What commercial litigation covers
Commercial litigation deals with legal disputes arising out of business: breaches of contract, disputes between partners and shareholders, disputes over supply and payment, and claims relating to intellectual property. Today the contract, the correspondence and the proof of delivery are often electronic. A dispute that would once have turned on a signed paper agreement may turn on an exchange of messages, a click on an acceptance button, or a record in a company's system.
This page does not describe any particular firm or service. It explains the legal setting in which electronic business disputes are decided.
Electronic contracts and signatures
Section 10A of the Information Technology Act 2000 provides that a contract is not unenforceable solely because proposals, acceptances or revocations were expressed in electronic form or by means of an electronic record. Section 5 provides that a requirement of signature is satisfied by an electronic signature affixed in the manner prescribed, and section 4 provides that a requirement of writing is satisfied by an electronic record that is accessible so as to be usable for subsequent reference.
The Act does not apply to the documents and transactions in its First Schedule, which include a negotiable instrument other than a cheque, a power of attorney, a trust, a will and a contract for the sale of immovable property. A business that wants to rely on an electronic process should check that its document is not one of them.
Electronic evidence in a business dispute
A party who relies on an email, a log or a database record must be able to prove it. The law of evidence governs how electronic records are admitted: from 1 July 2024 it is the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, which replaced the Indian Evidence Act 1872, with pending matters continuing under the earlier law. Practical steps help in any event: keep original messages with their headers, record when and how a record was made, and keep a clear chain of who handled it. The page on computer forensics explains why.
Civil remedies for cyber harm to a business
A business harmed by an attack on its systems has a civil remedy under section 43, which makes a person who accessed the system, copied data, introduced a virus or damaged or disrupted the system without permission liable to pay damages by way of compensation. The claim goes to an adjudicating officer where it does not exceed Rs 5 crore, with an appeal to the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal. Where the business holds personal data and has failed to protect it, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 provides penalties through the Data Protection Board, and the guide to the DPDP Act 2023 explains them.
For the offences that may be involved in the same facts, see the guide to the IT Act 2000. A business with a dispute should consult a qualified lawyer; this page describes the law and does not give advice.