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2015 (4) TMI 306 - Commission - Indian LawsDiscriminatory conditions in franchisee agreement for sale of premium sports goods - Contravention of provisions of Section 4 of the Competition Act - Denial to collect unsold goods - Held that:- The Commission finds two fundamental flaws in the allegations made by the Informant. Firstly, 'the Agreement' which was termed as unfair and arbitrary was entered into in 2003 when the alleged dominant group had not even come into existence. Secondly, even if the submission of the Informant regarding dominance of the Adidas AG Group is accepted post the formation of group in 2005, the conduct of the Adidas AG Group vis-a-vis the Informant remained same (as 'the Agreement' was said to be continued on same terms and conditions). Further, as per Informant's own submissions, the agreement with M/s Neelkanth Traders was more favourable than the one with it which fact goes against the allegation of abuse by the Adidas AG Group. The Commission further notes that the allegation of the Informant regarding the Opposite Party No. 3 not taking back the dead stock lying in the custody of the Informant which allegedly inflicted financial harm on it, prima facie does not raise any competition concern. Otherwise also, the Informant did not provide any correspondence sent to the Opposite Party No. 3 regarding the dead stock lying at its store between February, 2009 (when the last sale of the Opposite Party No. 3's products from the Informant's Franchise was being made) and 16 January, 2014 when allegedly a request was made to take back the dead stock. Based on the foregoing, the Commission is of the considered opinion that the conduct of the Adidas AG Group, prima facie, does not amount to any contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act. Therefore, even though the Adidas AG Group appears to be a dominant group in the relevant market defined supra, the facts available on record show no violation of provisions of Section 4 of the Act in the present matter. - Case closed down.
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