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Competition Commission of India v. Co-ordination Committee of Artists and Technicians of W.B. Film and Television & Ors.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 6691 of 2014)Decided 7 Mar 2017
Civil Appeal No. 6691 of 2014
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

Background

A Kolkata-based video distributor had obtained rights to dub and telecast the Hindi TV serial "Mahabharat" in Bangla on two regional TV channels. Two industry bodies, an association of film producers/distributors (EIMPA) and a coordination committee representing West Bengal's artists and technicians, objected to broadcast of the dubbed serial and jointly called for a boycott, pressuring the channels and threatening the distributor's business. The Competition Commission of India found this concerted boycott to be anti-competitive conduct violating Section 3 of the Competition Act, but the Competition Appellate Tribunal took the view that the Coordination Committee was merely a trade union protecting artists' livelihoods and language/culture, and not an "enterprise" subject to competition law. The CCI appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that even though the Coordination Committee styled itself as representing workers, its membership and conduct meant it was acting on behalf of enterprises engaged in production, distribution and exhibition of films, and its joint, coordinated boycott call with EIMPA reflected the collective commercial intent of those enterprises, so it could not escape competition-law scrutiny merely by invoking trade-union status or a free-speech/cultural argument. The Court found that blocking the dubbed serial's exhibition protected a language-based turf at the cost of competition and consumer choice, directly amounting to creating barriers to entry and limiting supply, in violation of Section 3(3)(b) of the Competition Act. The CCI's appeal was allowed, restoring its finding of anti-competitive conduct.

Lesson Learnt

An organisation cannot avoid the Competition Act simply by calling itself a trade union or invoking cultural/linguistic protectionism: if its members are commercial enterprises and it acts to collectively restrict competitors from the market, its conduct can still be treated as anti-competitive and unlawful.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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