Author: kkslawoffices

The Italian Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) has imposed a fine of EUR 10 million on Amazon for engaging in unfair trade practice by employing pre-selection of the “recurring purchase” option for a wide selection of products listed on Amazon Italy’s marketplace. According to AGCM, such conduct might lead to consumer’s buying product even when there is no actual need, restricting consumer’s freedom of choice.

The Bombay High Court (BHC), while dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a contractor challenging certain tender conditions leading to ineligibility of some of the contractors, has held that, permitting a contractor to file a PIL petition challenging the conditions of a tender is nothing but a sheer abuse of process of Court & an effort to pollute the purity of the stream of PILs. The BHC, while dismissing the PIL, noted that the contractor claims to espouse public cause, on the contrary, he himself is engaged in similar business. Therefore, it seems that purpose is personal & extraneous and not a public cause.

The Punjab & Haryana Court (PHC), dealing with an anticipatory bail application preferred in relation to committing an offence of kidnapping of a 17-year-old girl, has held that from the statements made by the girl, who was of the “age of discretion and at the verge of attaining majority”, it can be seen that she had left her house at her own volition. The PHC, noting that such facts falls short of inducement & does not amount to “taking” within the meaning of kidnapping, granted pre-arrest bail to the accused.

The Federal Economic Competition Commission in Mexico (COFECE) is investigating tech giants, like Amazon and Mercado Libre, in relation to integration of streaming services subscriptions with loyalty programs. For instance, Mercado Libre provides complementary access for Prime Video, Disney+ & Star+ when subscribing to its loyalty program. According to COFECE, such conduct is alleged to create barriers to competition through the integration of streaming services with loyalty programs.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has accepted commitments offered by Google LLC (Google) in relation to its alleged anti-competitive conduct in market for “provision of technologies for search engines & search advertising”. According to FTC, Since Yahoo Japan Corporation (Yahoo Japan) did not have technologies for search engines and search advertising it entered into a ‘GSA agreement’ with Google for providing technologies for Mobile Syndication Transactions (MTS). It was alleged that since 2015, Google has been engaged in amending the GSA & thereby restriction the provision of technologies necessary for MTS. Google’s commitments include – restraint from restricting provision of technologies, allowing independence & information separation to Yahoo Japan.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sought to block $8.5 billion acquisition of Capri Holdings Limited (Capri) by Tapestry, Inc. (Tapestry) citing elimination of direct head-to-head competition between competitors in the “accessible luxury” segment. According to FTC, Tapestry’s Coach & Kate Spade brand and Capri’s Michael Kors brand vigorously compete against one another, especially in the “accessible luxury” handbag market.

The Supreme Court (SC) in an appeal while dealing with the scope of interference by an appellate Court for reversing the trial court’s acquittal order, has laid down the following guiding principles – “(a) That the judgment of acquittal suffers from patent perversity; (b) That the same is based on a misreading/omission to consider material evidence on record; (c) That no two reasonable views are possible and only the view consistent with the guilt of the accused is possible from the evidence available on record.” The SC, while noting that the Appellate court failed to follow the abovementioned principle & instead went unto deciding the appeal as a court of first instance, reversed the appellate court’s order.

In a joint operation, the Hong Kong Competition Commission (HKCC) & the Hong Kong‘s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), conduct search & seizures operations at various offices of project contractors, consultancies & property management companies in relation to the alleged big-rigging by these companies in the building maintenance projects’ tenders. The companies have been alleged to have been manipulating “the tendering exercises of building maintenance projects, exaggerated contracts sums, assisted associated contractors to obtain maintenance projects and consultancy contracts, and manipulated project supervision and project payment release.”

The German Competition Regulator (Bundeskartellamt) has approved the acquisition of Cardior Pharmaceuticals GmbH (Cardior) by Novo Nordisk A/S (Novo Nordisk). Cardior is a biotech company, with operations in the development of active pharmaceutical ingredients for the medicines used for cardiac insufficiency or heart failure. On the other hand, Novo Nordisk is an international pharmaceutical company specializing in the development of treatment for diabetes & obesity. According to Bundeskartellamt, the proposed acquisition does not create any significant antitrust concerns as Cardior products works in a different way & is catrered towards a different set of consumers as compared to Novo Nordisk.

The Supreme Court (SC), while dealing with an appeal filed by an ex-employee of the GB Pant Institute, Ghurdauri, challenging his termination from service, on the ground of it being issued without, undertaking any enquiry or opportunity to show cause, has held that, the termination of the services “without holding disciplinary enquiry was totally unjustified and de hors the requirements of law and in gross violation of principles of natural justice”. The SC while quashing the termination order passed by the concerned authority, directed reinstatement of the employee.