Scepticism Revolving Around ‘Pre-Litigation Mediation' In IP Matters

The Commercial Courts Act, 2015 (CCA for brevity) was introduced with a view to expedite the commercial matters to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the country. The entire proceeding related to commercial matters is now eased and accelerated. Intellectual Property falls under the purview of CCA, as defined under section 2(c)(xvii):

"(xvii) intellectual property rights relating to registered and unregistered trademarks, copyright, patent, design, domain names, geographical indications and semiconductor integrated circuits;"

The threshold for institution of commercial cases was fixed at Rs. 1 Crore, only after the 2018 amendment, it was brought down to Rs. 3 Lakhs. In the very same amendment section 12A was inserted to mandate 'pre-litigation mediation'. The legislative intent behind such insertion was to make the country investment-friendly by increasing the ease of doing business. Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism is the future of litigation