Delhi HC IP Division Statistics: Suits Filed Per Year by Case Type

Explainer · IP Litigation Data

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Anyone who tries to answer "how big is IP litigation in Delhi?" runs into the same trouble. One number says 600 suits a year. Another says 4,000 pending. A third says 2,000 transferred. They are all true, and they measure different things. This guide explains what the Delhi High Court IP Division (IPD) actually counts, where the official figures come from, and how to build your own count of suits filed per year by case type. Last verified October 2026.

The short answer

Set up: the Delhi High Court IP Division began on 28 February 2022 after the IPAB was abolished.
First-year figures reported: 628 fresh commercial IP suits, more than 500 other IP matters, and over 4,000 IP rights cases pending as on 31 March 2023.
Never mix counts: suits, appeals and cancellations are different things with different case-type codes.
Count it yourself: fix the period, the date field and the code, then state N and the count date.
Last verified: October 2026.

01Why the numbers do not match

The Delhi High Court IP Division was set up on 28 February 2022, after the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) was abolished in 2021. It now hears IP suits and also the appeals and petitions that used to go to the IPAB. That is a mixed caseload, and most confusion about its size comes from mixing the parts together.

When someone quotes a figure, ask four questions before you use it.

What is being counted? Fresh commercial suits, or every IP matter including appeals, cancellations and rectifications?
Which period? Court year, financial year (April to March) or calendar year?
Filed, registered or listed? A matter can be filed in one month and numbered in another.
Who counted it? The court itself, a law firm, a news report or a software tool?

Most wrong IP statistics are not false. They count a different thing from the one the reader thinks.

Scope of this page

This page is about the size and pendency of the Delhi IPD. For a monthly view of what is being decided, see our monthly IP litigation digest. For how suit types split between passing off and infringement, see passing off versus infringement data.

02What the published figures say

The most reliable public figures come from the IPD’s own annual reports, as covered by legal media. These are the headline numbers reported for the first year of the Division, as we last checked them in October 2026.

Figure	Reported value	Period	Source
Cases transferred from the IPAB	More than 2,000	At creation, 2021 to 2022	LiveLaw
Transferred cases disposed of	Nearly 600	First year	LiveLaw
Fresh commercial IP suits	628	First year (2022-23)	SpicyIP
Other IP rights matters started (appeals, cancellations)	More than 500	First year (2022-23)	SpicyIP
Overall IP pendency	Over 4,000 IP rights cases	As on 31 March 2023	SpicyIP

A second annual report covers 2023-24, and SpicyIP has a summary of its key takeaways: DHC IPD Second Annual Report 2023-24.

We do not quote later-year figures on this page because we have not confirmed them against the court’s own report. We would rather show a smaller table that is correct than a larger one that is not.

03Suits versus other IP matters

The IPD does not hear one kind of case. A rough split helps you read any number.

Original side: commercial IP suits

These are suits for infringement, passing off, copyright and similar claims, filed as commercial suits. This is the group most people mean when they say "IP suits filed". It is the 628 figure above for the first year.

Appeals and petitions: the old IPAB work

Rectification, cancellation and appeals against orders of the Registrar of Trade Marks, the Patent Office and similar bodies. These carry their own case-type codes and are counted separately from suits. Many of the IPAB transfers sit here.

Case-type codes

The court files IPD matters under case-type codes that begin with the IPD marker, for example a trade mark cancellation petition under the code written as C.O.(COMM.IPD-TM). Other codes exist for patents, designs, copyright and geographical indications.

This is why one headline number is never enough. A count of "IPD cases" with no code attached may include a suit, a cancellation petition and an appeal in the same total.

04How to count suits per year by case type

If you want your own dated count, do it in a way another person can repeat. This is a sound method.

Fix the period. Pick calendar year or April to March and state it. Use the same one every time.
Fix the date field. Decide whether you count the filing date or the registration date. The court’s case status page shows these separately for each matter.
Pull matters by case-type code. Search each IPD code for the year, so trade mark, patent, design and copyright matters are not mixed.
Separate suits from petitions. Keep original commercial suits apart from cancellations and appeals.
Remove duplicates. Connected matters and refiled matters can show up twice.
Date the result and state N. Write the total, the date you counted, and the method, for example "N matters, counted on 1 October 2026, filing date, calendar year".

The court’s own case status service is the primary source. Third-party tools and our own counts are only as good as that source and the method used. A figure with no N and no date should not be trusted, including ours.

We keep a Claw-counted table of suits per year by IPD case type. We publish it only with its N, its count date and its method together, and we do not copy it here without those three items.

05How to read pendency

Pendency is the number of matters still open on a given date. Three habits make it more useful.

Compare like with like. A pendency of "over 4,000 IP rights cases" as on 31 March 2023 includes more than suits. Do not set it against a suits-only filing count.
Watch the flow, not just the stock. If fresh filings and disposals are close, pendency stays flat even when both numbers are large. If filings run ahead, pendency rises.
Use the same snapshot date. Pendency moves by the month. A figure from March and a figure from September are not comparable without saying so.

Pendency also hides age. Two courts with the same pending count can differ a lot if one holds mostly recent matters and the other holds old ones. If age matters to you, count matters by filing year as well.

Why this matters in practice

Pendency affects how soon you can expect a final hearing, whether to seek interim relief at once, and how to plan costs for a client. Use the number as a guide to scale, not as a promise about timing.

06Limits of any count

Be honest about what a count can and cannot show.

Annual reports lag. They describe a past court year and are published later.
Case status pages change. Matters get renumbered, tagged or transferred, so a count made today may differ from one made next month.
Other courts also hear IP. The Delhi IPD is one forum. Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and other High Courts have their own IP benches, and district courts hear some matters. A Delhi figure is not an India figure.
Counts do not show quality. A suit count says nothing about whether claims succeed.

If you are choosing tools to monitor IP matters rather than count them, see our guide to the best patent management software in India.

07Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

For this topic, the relevant part is IP litigation tracking. Claw can follow Indian courts that have a case website, including the High Court IP Divisions. For the Delhi IPD it can pull matters by case-type code, such as C.O.(COMM.IPD-TM), and by court plus case number or party name, along with hearings, orders and cause lists. That makes it possible to build a repeatable, dated count of the kind described above, and to keep it current. The same platform also tracks IP India registry matters for trade marks, patents, designs and geographical indications, and carries IP judgment research across 30 crore+ judgments.

Two honest limits. Claw does not yet track copyright registration at the Copyright Office, so for copyright it is court-side only. And no tool, ours included, replaces the court’s own annual reports and case status pages as the primary source for official figures. IP features are part of the Premium and Enterprise plans, and there is no separate IP-only plan.

08Sources and further reading

Primary and secondary sources used on this page. Last verified October 2026.

Delhi High Court (case status, cause lists, IPD rules and reports): delhihighcourt.nic.in
LiveLaw on the IPD’s first-year disposals: livelaw.in
SpicyIP on the first annual report: spicyip.com
SpicyIP on the second annual report: spicyip.com
Claw: clawlaw.in

Figures are as reported by these sources and should be checked against the court’s own reports before you rely on them.

09Frequently asked questions

How many IP suits are filed in the Delhi High Court each year?

The IPD annual report for its first year (2022-23) was reported as showing 628 fresh commercial IP suits, plus more than 500 other IP matters such as cancellations and appeals. Later years should be taken from the court's own annual reports. Any count should state its period, method and date.

How many IP cases are pending in the Delhi High Court?

As on 31 March 2023, overall IP pendency was reported at over 4,000 IP rights cases. That figure includes more than suits. Pendency changes by the month, so check the court's latest published figure.

Why do different sources give different IPD numbers?

They count different things: suits only or all IP matters, different periods, and filing versus registration dates. Always check what is counted before comparing.

What is the case-type code for trade mark matters in the IPD?

One example is C.O.(COMM.IPD-TM), used for trade mark cancellation petitions. Other IPD codes exist for other IP types and should be confirmed from the court's current rules and cause lists.

Where do the official figures come from?

From the Delhi High Court's IPD annual reports and its case status pages. Legal media such as LiveLaw and SpicyIP summarise the reports. Use the court's own report as the primary source.

Does Delhi data represent all of India?

No. Other High Courts and district courts also hear IP matters. A Delhi figure describes Delhi only.