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Informist, Tuesday, Aug 20, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court has set aside the inquiry by the Director General of the Competition Commissioner of India into JCB India Ltd in an alleged case of the company abusing its dominant position in the market. The high court has taken the settlement between JCB India and Bull Machines Pvt Ltd on record regarding a patent case between the parties.

 

The dispute has its genesis in a suit that JCB India filed against Bull Machines, seeking an injunction over the infringement of copyright, piracy of registered design and passing off. Some settlement negotiations ensued between the parties and Bull Machines agreed to change the design of some of its parts during negotiations.

 

While the settlement talks were underway, Bull Machines filed information before the competition commission in 2013. In March 2014, the antitrust watchdog said it was prima facie of the opinion that JCB, by abusing its dominant position in the relevant market, sought to stifle competition by denying market access and foreclosing entry of 'Bull Smart' in contravention of the Competition Act. The commission asked the director general to probe the case. 

 

Challenging the commission's probe, JCB moved the Delhi High Court. When the case was going on, there was a mediation process between the parties and they reached a settlement. In the settlement agreement, the suits regarding the patent case and their appeals were decided to be withdrawn. The settlement had also sought disposal of CCI proceedings regarding JCB India. For this, the Supreme Court had asked the parties to move high court for early disposal of the case.

 

The antitrust watchdog opposed setting aside the probe into JCB India. The inquiry before them should continue in order for them to explore if there is a chance of the settlement being anti-competitive, said the commission. If the CCI's argument is accepted, it could mean that, despite the settlement, the CCI can proceed with an inquiry thereby prejudicing the settlement, said the high court. This possibility undermines the core principles of mediation by creating uncertainty and instability for the parties involved, the high court added.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Aditya Sakorkar

 

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