CYBER JURISDICTION IN 

INDIA

CYBER JURISDICTION IN INDIA[1]

Jurisdiction means the authority which a court has to decide matters that are litigated before it
or to take cognizance if matters are presented in a formal way for its decisions, it could be said
that it is the power/authority of the court to decide matters that are brought before him. In this
context, jurisdiction over activities on the Internet has become a battleground for the struggle
to establish Rule of Law in the Information Society.[2] The rise of the global computer network
is destroying the link between geographical location and:
1)      The power of local governments to assert control over online behavior;

2)      The effects of online behavior on individuals or things;

3)      The legitimacy of the efforts of a local sovereign to enforce rules applicable to global
phenomena; and

4)      The ability of physical location to give notice of which sets of rules to apply.

The net thus radically subverts a system of rule-making based on borders between physical
spaces, at least with respect to the claim that cyberspace should naturally be governed by
territorially defined rules.[3]
The Internet explosion has generated many jurisdictional disputes, putting the onus on courts
to determine how to apply historic concepts regarding personal jurisdiction to the boundary-
less world of the Internet. With so many outsourcing activities in India and the popularity of
networking websites, a fresh continuum of cases related to “Personal Victimization” and
“Economic Offences” in the nature of data protection, cyber defamation, security, etc have
evolved. Hacking initiated at one place adversely affects any other place/institution and brings
them to limbo.

Relevant Legislations: –
1)      Information Technology Act, 2000: –Section 75 of the Act implies that the Act shall apply
to an offence or contravention committed outside India by any person if the act or conduct
constituting the offence involves a computer, computer system or computer network located in
India.
2)      Indian Penal Code, 1860: – Section 3 and 4 of the Act deals with the extra-jurisdictional
power given to the Indian Courts.[4]
3)      Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: -Section 188provides that even if a citizen of India
outside the country commits the offence, the same is subject to the jurisdiction of courts in
India. In India, jurisdiction in cyberspace is similar to jurisdiction as that relating to traditional
crimes and the concept of subjective territoriality will prevail. Moreover Section 178 deals with
the crime or part of it committed in India and Section 179 deals with the consequences of crime
in Indian Territory.[5]
In a leading case of cyber crime, SMC Pneumatics (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Jogesh Kwatra [6],  India’s
first case of cyber defamation, High Court of Delhi assumed jurisdiction over a matter where a
corporate’s reputation was being defamed through e-mails, and passed an important ex-parte
injunction. The concept of consequence and cause of action extends jurisdiction but a
conflicting situation arises where there is no defined regulation at one of the places. For
example, the Act does not provide any provision to catch the internet pornography on foreign
websites but only for sites in India.  
The Supreme Court of India, in the case of SIL Import v. Exim Aides Silk Importers[7] has
recognized the need of the judiciary to interpret a statute by making allowances for any
relevant technological change that has occurred. Until there is specific legislation in regard to
the jurisdiction of the Indian Courts with respect to Internet disputes, or unless India is a
signatory to an International Treaty under which the jurisdiction of the national courts and the
circumstances under which they can be exercised are spelt out, the Indian Courts will have to
give a wide interpretation to the existing statutes, for exercising Internet disputes.
Conclusion
In the present scenario where the cyber crimes are increasing to an alarming extent, the
present need of the hour is to have broad based convention dealing with criminal substantive
law matters, criminal procedural questions as well as with international criminal law procedures
and agreements. The IT Act, 2000 would be crippled without proper means and ways of
implementing it. To overcome the difficulties, necessary amendments must be made to The
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Moreover, it is important to note that India at present does
not have a proper extradition law to deal with crimes that have been committed over the
Internet.  To address this issue, India should become a signatory to the Convention of cyber
crimes treaty and should ratify it. This move would go a great deal in resolving the jurisdictional
controversies that may arise in cyber crime cases.
[1] Saurabh Anand, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore.
[2] Reidenberg, R. Joel, Lex Informatica: The Formulation of Information Policy Rules Through
Technology, 76 Texas Law Review p553, 554-55 (1998)
[3] Katsh Ethan M, The Electronic Media and The Transformation of Law (New York, Oxford
University Press, 1989) p 92-94; Katsh Ethan M, In a Digital World (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1995) p 57-59, 218
[4] Section 3 and 4 of Indian Penal Code, 1860
[5] Section 178, 179 and 188 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
[6] Being Suit No. 1279/2001 available
at http://cyberlaws.net/cyberindia/defamation.htm(Accessed on 25th Sept, 12 at 16:30 hrs)
[7] (1999) 4 SCC 567

Trademark versus Domain Name Dispute

25WEDNESDAYJUL 2012

POSTED BY LEXWISDOM IN UNCATEGORIZED
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What is a domain Name?
A domain name is part of e-mail address or home page address which comes after the @ and
www respectively. A common domain name is read from the right to the left. The letters
appearing on the extreme right are called Top Level Domains (TLDs) such as .co. in or .uk, .au,
etc and immediate part next to the TLD is known as Second Level Domain (SLDs) and it is that
part for which the registration is sought and each user applying for the registration is given a
unique name which can be used in the correspondence with the transacting and interested
parties in the day to day business life.

What is a trademark?
A Trademark is usually the name along with or not some graphical representation or sign of a
product which is used in the due course of the business. It is because of the trademark that
buying public is able to recognize a particular product in the market and its origin as well,
therefore not to mention the goodwill of a product is attached to its trademark. Therefore if
another person uses one’s trademark on his own product so as to suggest or represent that
those good belong to person who usually sells the product under same trademark then there is
obvious loss of goodwill and reputation of the original person as there is likelihood that another
person may sell inferior quality products under the grab of the alleged trademark usage.

Where lies the controversy?

In the current scenario the e-commerce is growing at an exponential rate which has led to the
development of a parallel market in the cyberspace where the goods though are not physically
present but can very well be demonstrated over the web address of the domain name holder
and the buyers according to their choices can place their order accordingly and this is where is
problem central to the dispute of confusing similarity between one’s trademark and another’s
similar domain name lies.

What is the Controversy?

There will be concerns when take for example a particular domain name is allocated to the user
A containing the words of the user B, now if A’s business is entirely different from B there won’t
be any problem of passing of /infringement but problem will arise when A is in the same
business.” In such a situation instead of being directed to the website of the legitimate owner
of the name, a user may be diverted to the website of the unauthorized user of a similar or
identical name” (Supreme Court of India in Satyam Infoway Ltd. Vs Sifynet Solutions Pvt. Ltd.).
Therefore, there will be confusing similarity between the identical or similar domain names and
the trademarks belonging to the same business.
Conclusion
Supreme Court of India in Satyam Infoway Ltd. Vs Sifynet Solutions Pvt. Ltd.  has affirmed that
a domain name has all the properties and features of a trademark and till any law is not passed
exclusively
for the domain names, the law of trademark shall be applicable to the domain names, where
either party has to adduce the evidence for showing the balance of convenience in their favour.