Several options are available to the right holder. Usually, the right holder commences asserting its rights out-of-court. This could be by way of a cease and desist notice with the ultimate objective of extracting the desired undertakings from the noticee. Publication of caution notices/general warnings apprising the trade and public of intellectual property rights is also a valuable tool. In case efforts to address concerns of the right holder do not yield results, it is constrained to seek redressal of its grievances from a Court of law and/or an enforcement authority such as the police. Civil and/or criminal remedies may be explored based upon the nature of the right and the appertaining statutory framework. For instance, criminal remedy is not available under the Designs or the Patents Act necessitating initiating civil action for piracy/infringement. Cf. the Copyright Act and the Trade Marks Act which envisage certain violations as offences entitling the right holder to lodge criminal complaint with the police or Magistrate.

A Civil Suit for infringement and/or passing off calls for filing of a Statement of Claim (Plaint) with a Court of law seeking necessary reliefs including injunction, damages/account of profits, destruction/delivery-up of offending goods etc. Interlocutory Application(s) seeking interim relief may also be filed alongwith the Plaint thus safeguarding the interests of the right holder pending trial on the issues raised in the lawsuit. Choice of remedy and the litigious strategy are dictated by several factors which need to be evaluated from time to time.