Confidentiality Clubs: Evolving Jurisprudence In Indian Patent Litigation Cases

Generally, legal proceedings are conducted in an open court and access to documents, information and evidence, is given to all the parties to the litigation and their lawyers. An exception to this rule is a 'confidentiality club', set up in cases involving exchange of confidential and commercially sensitive information of the parties to the litigation. Confidentiality clubs are usually set up either by way of an agreement between the parties to the litigation or by an order of the Court, in order to restrict access to confidential documents and information to certain named individuals on the basis of their undertaking of maintaining confidentiality. Confidentiality clubs have become a standard feature in English and American patent litigation and in recent years, have also been set up in India, especially in patent infringement cases.