Nasscom vs. Ajay Sood & Others

In a landmark judgment in the case of National Association of Software and Service Companies vs Ajay Sood & Others, delivered in March, ‘05, the Delhi High Court declared `phishing’ on the internet to be an illegal act, entailing an injunction and recovery of damages.





Elaborating on the concept of ‘phishing’, in order to lay down a precedent in India, the court stated that it is a form of internet fraud where a person pretends to be a legitimate association, such as a bank or an insurance company in order to extract personal data from a customer such as access codes, passwords, etc. Personal data so collected by misrepresenting the identity of the legitimate party is commonly used for the collecting party’s advantage. court also stated, by way of an example, that typical phishing scams involve persons who pretend to represent online banks and siphon cash from e-banking accounts after conning consumers into handing over confidential banking details.



The Delhi HC stated that even though there is no specific legislation in India to penalise phishing, it held phishing to be an illegal act by defining it under Indian law as “amisrepresentation made in the course of trade leading to confusion as to the source and origin of the e-mail causing immense harm not only to the consumer but even to the person whose name, identity or password is misused.” The court held the act of phishing as passing off and tarnishing the plaintiff’s image.



The plaintiff in this case was the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), India’s premier software association.



The defendants were operating a placement agency involved in head-hunting and recruitment. In order to obtain personal data, which they could use for purposes of head-hunting, the defendants composed and sent e-mails to third parties in the name of Nasscom. The high court recognised the trademark rights of the plaintiff and passed an ex-parte ad-interim injunction restraining the defendants from using the trade name or any other name deceptively similar to Nasscom. The court further restrained the defendants from holding themselves out as being associates or a part of Nasscom.



The court appointed a commission to conduct a search at the defendants’ premises. Two hard disks of the computers from which the fraudulent e-mails were sent by the defendants to various parties were taken into custody by the local commissioner appointed by the court. The offending e-mails were then downloaded from the hard disks and presented as evidence in court.



During the progress of the case, it became clear that the defendants in whose names the offending e-mails were sent were fictitious identities created by an employee on defendants’ instructions, to avoid recognition and legal action. On discovery of this fraudulent act, the fictitious names were deleted from the array of parties as defendants in the case. Subsequently, the defendants admitted their illegal acts and the parties settled the matter through the recording of a compromise in the suit proceedings. According to the terms of compromise, the defendants agreed to pay a sum of Rs1.6 million to the plaintiff as damages for violation of the plaintiff’s trademark rights. The court also ordered the hard disks seized from the defendants’ premises to be handed over to the plaintiff who would be the owner of the hard disks.



This case achieves clear milestones: It brings the act of “phishing” into the ambit of Indian laws even in the absence of specific legislation; It clears the misconception that there is no “damages culture” in India for violation of IP rights; This case reaffirms IP owners’ faith in the Indian judicial system’s ability and willingness to protect intangible property rights and send a strong message to IP owners that they can do business in India without sacrificing their IP rights.




  1. Infinity e-Search BPO Case
  2. Andhra Pradesh Tax Case
  3. Parliament Attack Case
  4. SMC Pneumatics (India) Pvt. Ltd. v. Jogesh Kwatra
  5. The Bank NSP Case
  6. SONY.SAMBANDH.COM Case
  7. State of Tamil Nadu Vs Suhas Katti
  8. Nasscom vs. Ajay Sood & Others
  9. Bazee.com case
  10. Pune Citibank MphasiS Call Center Fraud


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