The Competition Commission of India (CCI) will give a final decision on its probe against realty firm Jaypee Greens for alleged violation of competition norms in a housing project in Greater Noida in the next 2-3 weeks, CCI Chairman Ashok Chawla said on Friday.

Meanwhile, the investigation against app-based taxi-service provider Ola Cabs is at a preliminary stage, he said, adding that, “the investigation going on is with respect to Bengaluru city services. If there is problem in other cities and information comes to us we will look into that”.

Chawla was speaking on the sidelines of an Assocham conference on ‘Interface between Intellectual Property and Competition Law’ in the national capital, on Friday.

IPR: a fine line

While intervening in Intellectual property rights (IPR) related markets, it is important to strike a careful balance so as to not undermine incentives to innovate, Chawla said in his address. “It is a challenge to mark the exact boundaries/limits of intellectual property, unlike the walls of a factory. This makes it difficult to ascertain whether a competitor is competing legitimately or illegitimately,” he said. He maintained that while IPR and competition law may appear divergent in their objectives, they are essentially complementary and both aim to promote innovation.

While Indian competition law takes cognisance of IPR, the protection isn’t absolute and there is no blanket shield. “If terms and conditions adversely affect competition, CCI can investigate,” he said.

The competition watchdog also needs to see that markets remain truly open to new entrants and that mergers and acquisitions do not reduce the incentive for companies to innovate.

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