- Court
- Delhi High Court
- Date of judgment
- Judge
- Prathiba M. Singh
- Outcome
- Set aside
Headnote
Writ petitions allowed, the Competition Commission's order under section 26(1) set aside and the proceedings terminated. The information before the Commission alleged that JCB's design infringement suit was sham or predatory litigation amounting to an abuse of dominance. The Court held that every IP dispute cannot be converted into a competition dispute, as that would impinge on statutory rights under the IP statutes, and that any attempt to move an IP dispute from the High Court or a commercial court to the competition authority must be viewed with caution. Allegations of sham litigation ought to be discouraged while the court seized of the IP dispute is still hearing it; approaching the Commission may be justified only once a court has found the litigation to be an abuse of process. The underlying design suit having been settled, the substratum of the Commission's proceedings was gone.
Headnote by BRB Legal, written from the judgment: a summary for reference, not legal advice.