India: Arbitration & Dispute Resolution

In the pharmaceutical industry, a Product Dossier may be as commercially valuable as the product itself. A pharmaceutical Product Dossier comprises of technical, scientific and regulatory information used to develop, register and commercialise a medicinal product. It may include material on composition, manufacturing, quality, stability, safety, efficacy and regulatory approvals. Its commercial value lies not only in the information itself but also in the expertise, time and investment required to compile and develop it for regulatory and commercial use.

The Supreme Court, in the case of Tata Steel Ltd. v. Varsha & Anr. (2026 INSC 717) (‘Tata Steel v. Varsha’), has held that an Operational Creditor cannot revive its full, uncrystallized sub-judice claim through a pending court or arbitration proceeding, once that claim has been admitted at a quantified value of Re. 1 in an approved Resolution Plan. Participating in the insolvency process by lodging a claim before the Resolution Professional does not preserve the creditor's right to separately pursue the full claim through the pending suit or arbitration after the Plan is approved.

Technology no longer merely stores information; it increasingly controls the physical world. The law, however, still regulates it as if it were confined to a database.