New Delhi — The Supreme Court has referred to a larger Bench a conflict over which court may hear trademark infringement suits after State notifications establish Commercial Courts below District Judge level.
Section 134 of the Trade Marks Act bars specified suits from being filed in any court inferior to a District Court. Jharkhand, however, notified Civil Judges (Senior Division) as Commercial Courts for disputes between ₹3 lakh and ₹1 crore. ISDS Private Limited argued that this diluted Parliament’s express jurisdictional command and deprived litigants of a first appeal to the High Court.
Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran said intellectual-property disputes are one species within the wider category of commercial disputes. They noted tension between precedents treating the Arbitration Act as a self-contained special code and a later ruling giving Commercial Courts Act notifications priority in arbitration matters.
The Bench said State-wise notifications should not produce inconsistent jurisdiction for trademark cases and expressed the view that legislative intent cannot be diluted administratively. It placed the matter before the Chief Justice of India for constitution of a larger Bench and stayed Commercial Suit No. 11 of 2023 pending before the Civil Judge (Senior Division)-I, Jamshedpur.
