Point of Law: Section 19(1) of the Act would show that the Act originally provided for the “receipt of a complaint” from any person, consumer or their association, or trade association.

ORDER :

Petitioners are knocking at the doors of Writ Court for assailing the order dated 09.08.2019 made by the Competition Commission of India (hereafter ‘Commission’) whereby in exercise of powers under Section 26(1) of the Competition Act, 2002 (hereafter ‘2002 Act’) an investigation as to whether their warranty policy has (i) potentially resulted in denial of market access to parallel importers & resellers of Boxed Micro-Processors for Desktop and Laptop PCs & (ii) the risk of higher pricing for the said articles in India. The relevant portion of said order at paragraph 43 reads as under:

“43. Based on the above analysis of the facts and materials presented by the Informant and Intel, the Commission is of the prima facie opinion that the new differentiated India specific warranty policy of Intel in regard to its Boxed Micro-Processor is in contravention of Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Act. The same also prima facie results in limiting or restricting the market for Boxed Micro-Processors for Desktop and Laptop PCs in the territory of India in contravention of Section 4(2)(b)(i) of the Act as well as results in denial of market access to parallel importers in contravention of Section 4(2)(c)(i) of the Act. Consequently, under the provision of Section 26(1) of the Act, the Commission directs the Director General (‘DG’) to cause an investigation into the matter and submit an investigation report within a period of 150 days of this order.”

2. A Co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide ad interim order dated 14.11.2019 had stayed the impugned order and that the same has been continued from time to time. After service of notice, the Commission has entered appearance through its Panel Counsel has filed its Statement of Objections. Similarly, the private respondent having been represented by their Advocate too has filed its. Learned Senior Advocates appearing for the petitioners and the learned ASG appearing for the Commission have made elaborate submissions; learned advocate representing the private respondent too has forth his contentions in justification of the impugned order and the reasons on which it has been founded.

3. BRIEF FACTS OF THE CASE:

(A) CASE OF THE PETITIONERS:

(i) The 1st petitioner is a private limited company incorporated in 1997 under the provisions of erstwhile Companies Act, 1956. It is stated to be an ‘indirectly held, wholly owned subsidiary of 2nd petitioner’ which is based in the United States of America. They are inter alia engaged in the business of manufacturing integrated circuits for computing & communications. Their products include microprocessors, chipsets, motherboards, wireless components and a range of software products. 1st Petitioner states that it does not manufacture or sell any microprocessors or other products in India but only provides certain ‘marketing support services’ for such products as well as for the research & development (R&D) activities.

(ii) The 1st Petitioner-Intel on 25.04.2016 restructured its ‘warranty policy’ for boxed microprocessors in India to the effect that “…only Intel products sold by Intel Authorized Distributors in India and purchased in India are eligible for warranty sale within India…For Intel products purchased from other sources, please contact your purchases for warranty services…”. This, it claims to have done in the light of Hon’ble Delhi High Court decision in KAPIL WADHWA vs. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO. LTD, (2012) SCC OnLine DEL 5172 and Commission’s decision in ASHISH AHUJA vs. SNAPDEAL Case No. 17/2014 decided on 19.05.2014. It is the case of the petitioners that consistent with their new policy, no warranty is given for Intel Products that are not sold by Intel Authorized Distributors in India.

(B) CASE OF THE RESPONDENTS:

(i) The case of 2nd Respondent: The 2nd Respondent is a company (Matrix Info Systems Pvt. Ltd.) incorporated in 2015 under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. It is also engaged in the import & sale of information technology products name