The choice of court is the first decision in an intellectual property case and one of the few that cannot be revisited. It determines how fast the interim application is heard, how experienced the judge is in the subject, whether the plaintiff can sue at home, and whether the defendant can force a transfer. This guide sets out the rules that apply to trademarks, copyright, patents and designs alike, and the points where they diverge.
Quick reference
| Minimum court | District Court for every IP suit; High Court directly in cities where it has original jurisdiction |
| Commercial courts | Every IP suit valued above ₹3 lakh is a commercial dispute and follows the commercial courts procedure |
| IP divisions | Delhi, Madras and Calcutta High Courts, with Himachal Pradesh; Bombay and Karnataka in progress |
| Home-court rule | Trademark and copyright owners can sue where they carry on business; patents and designs cannot |
| Forced transfer | A patent or design suit moves to the High Court once validity is genuinely challenged |
| Appeals | Commercial appellate division of the High Court, within sixty days |
District Court or High Court
No intellectual property suit can be filed below a District Court. In most of India that is where it starts, before the commercial court designated for the district. In the cities whose High Courts have ordinary original civil jurisdiction — Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, and Himachal Pradesh at Shimla — a suit above the High Court’s pecuniary threshold can be filed there directly. In Delhi the threshold is ₹2 crore; suits valued below it go to the district commercial courts.
Valuation is in the plaintiff’s hands, within reason. Suits are routinely valued to reach the High Court where the plaintiff wants the specialist bench, and the courts have accepted that the value of an intellectual property right is a matter of the plaintiff’s estimate provided it is not arbitrary.
The commercial courts regime
Every dispute over a trademark, copyright, patent, design, domain name or geographical indication is a commercial dispute, and once its value exceeds ₹3 lakh it is heard under the Commercial Courts Act. That brings a stricter procedure: all documents filed with the plaint, disclosure and inspection on a timetable, case management hearings, written statements within a hard limit of 120 days, costs that follow the event, and — unless urgent interim relief is sought — mandatory mediation before the suit is filed. The regime is meant to produce a decision within a year of the first case management hearing. In the High Courts it does not, but it does move faster than the ordinary civil track.
The IP divisions
After the Intellectual Property Appellate Board was abolished in 2021 and its work returned to the High Courts, the Delhi High Court set up an Intellectual Property Division with its own rules, in force since early 2022, hearing infringement suits, appeals from the Patent, Trade Marks and Copyright Offices, revocation and rectification petitions, and writs. The Madras High Court followed in 2023, and the Calcutta High Court adopted its own rules the same year; the Himachal Pradesh High Court notified rules in 2024. The Bombay and Karnataka High Courts have had committees at work on rules of their own.
The divisions matter because the judges see intellectual property daily, the rules provide for confidentiality clubs, hot-tubbing of experts and technical assistance, and interim applications are listed quickly. Where the plaintiff has a choice, Delhi, Madras and Calcutta are usually it.
The home-court rule
A registered trademark proprietor, and a copyright owner, may sue in the court within whose jurisdiction the plaintiff resides or carries on business — regardless of where the defendant is or where the infringement happened. It lets a Chennai brand sue a Kolkata infringer in Chennai. The Supreme Court has limited it: where the plaintiff has a place of business at the place where the cause of action arose, it must sue there, and cannot go to its head office in another city.
Patents and designs have no such provision. A patentee or design proprietor sues where the defendant resides or carries on business, or where the infringement occurred, under the ordinary rules. For a patentee in Bengaluru facing an infringer in Ahmedabad, that means Ahmedabad — or Delhi, if the infringing product is sold there, which is the usual way patent cases arrive in the Delhi High Court. Where the same product engages a trademark and a patent, the trademark claim can carry the whole suit to the plaintiff’s home court.
Transfers the plaintiff cannot prevent
In a patent suit, if the defendant counter-claims for revocation, the suit must be transferred to the High Court, because only a High Court can revoke a patent. In a design suit, a genuine challenge to the validity of the registration has the same effect. Since defendants in both almost always challenge validity, a patent or design suit filed in a District Court should be expected to end up in the High Court, having lost the time. Filing in a High Court from the start avoids the detour where the value permits.
A trademark suit stays where it is filed, but a rectification petition against the plaintiff’s registration goes to the High Court, and the suit may be stayed while it is decided.
Appeals
An order in a commercial suit — including the grant or refusal of an interim injunction — is appealed to the commercial appellate division of the High Court, within sixty days. From a District commercial court, that is the High Court; from a single judge of the High Court, a division bench. Appellate courts defer to the trial judge’s discretion on interim relief and interfere only where it was exercised arbitrarily or on a wrong principle. The Supreme Court is reached only by special leave.
Choosing
The questions to ask, in order: Is the right a trademark or copyright, giving the plaintiff its home court? What is the suit worth, and does that reach a High Court’s original jurisdiction? Is there an IP division available? Will the defendant’s validity challenge force a transfer anyway? Where is the defendant, and where will an order have to be enforced? And is urgent interim relief sought, so that mediation can be bypassed — which affects timing more than forum, but affects it a great deal.
Frequently asked questions
Which court hears intellectual property cases in India? A District Court at minimum, as a commercial court where the value exceeds ₹3 lakh; or a High Court directly in Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and Shimla, where the value meets the High Court’s threshold. Delhi, Madras and Calcutta have dedicated intellectual property divisions.
Can I file an IP suit where my company is based? For trademark infringement and copyright, yes — the owner may sue where it resides or carries on business, subject to the rule that it must sue at the place of business where the cause of action arose if it has one there. Patent and design suits follow the ordinary rules and go where the defendant is or the infringement occurred.
What is the Commercial Courts Act threshold for IP suits? ₹3 lakh. Every intellectual property dispute above that value is a commercial dispute and follows the commercial courts procedure, including pre-suit mediation unless urgent interim relief is sought.
Why do patent cases end up in the High Court? Because a counter-claim for revocation, which nearly every defendant files, requires the suit to be transferred to the High Court, the only court that can revoke a patent. Design suits are transferred on the same basis when validity is genuinely challenged.
Which High Courts have IP divisions? Delhi, Madras, Calcutta and Himachal Pradesh, each with its own rules. Bombay and Karnataka have been preparing rules.
Where does an appeal from an interim injunction go? To the commercial appellate division of the High Court, within sixty days — a division bench where the order was made by a single judge of the High Court. Appellate courts rarely disturb a trial judge’s discretion on interim relief.
Useful official resources
- Delhi High Court — Intellectual Property Division — the IPD Rules and cause lists
- Madras High Court — IPD Rules
- Calcutta High Court — IPRD Rules
See our related notes on intellectual property litigation in India, interim injunctions and pre-litigation mediation.
Deciding where to file, or facing a transfer application? Talk to us.