Supreme Court upholds Competition Commission of India order to penalise film bodies

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by some regional film associations against a Competition Commission of India order penalising them for anti-competitive practices, in a victory for movie producers Reliance Big Entertainment and UTV.

Last week, a bench of Justices Gyan Sudha Misra and V Gopala Gowda dismissed the appeal of these associations, which had been held guilty by the antitrust body for practices such as limiting and controlling the screening of movies in their areas. Sanjib Sen, the lawyer who argued for Reliance Big Entertainment in the top court, confirmed the court ruling.

In their appeal, the associations contested the locus standi of the complainants to raise the issue with the CCI. According to them, there were associations of distributors or exhibitors and any decision by them applied only to their respective members.

UTV and Reliance accused the associations of using their dominant position to deny free access to the markets in their regions. According to the company, the associations were forcing them to register their movies with them.

Reliance's complaint stemmed from its woes in marketing Hindi movie Raavan. The 2010 film could not be released across Karnataka because of an alleged fiat of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce that a non-Kannada movie could only be released in 21 cinemas.

Reliance and UTV initially filed complaints with the CCI, accusing the regional film associations of imposing unreasonable conditions on them.

They also complained of curbs on the release of Hindi film prints, requirement for producers to become members of the associations before releasing a film and the demand of the associations that DTH or satellite release must be held back for six months to a year.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/legal-news/item/4378-supreme-court-upholds-competition-commission-of-india-order-to-penalise-film-bodies.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/legal-news/item/4378-supreme-court-upholds-competition-commission-of-india-order-to-penalise-film-bodies.html