Kavitha Gupta's blog

Competition Tribunal weighs abuse of dominant position provision against privacy and copyright protection Newsletters November 14 2016 | Contributed by Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh Introduction The Competition Act aims to maintain and encourage competition, in part, to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises have the opportunity to participate in the Canadian economy and to provide consumers with competitive prices and choices. The act includes provisions against abuse of dominant position, intended to prevent a dominant company from taking undue advantage of its position in the marketplace. Under these provisions, the commissioner of competition may apply to the Competition Tribunal to prohibit anti-competitive acts of a company that substantially or completely controls a market, if those acts substantially prevent or lessen competition within the marketplace. Facts The abuse of dominant position issue was brought befor...

Enforceability of secrecy clauses in India - What is ‘reasonable’? Krishna & Saurastri Associates LLP prev next India December 6 2016 It is widely known that trade secrets or confidential information do not receive statutory protection in India, and the same are typically protected contractually vide non-disclosure agreements (“NDA”) and/or secrecy clauses embedded within a master agreement. Due to the increased focus on protection of trade secrets in commercial transactions and employment/service contracts, it is important to explore the validity and enforceability of non-disclosure or secrecy obligations during the term and post the termination of such contracts.  Earlier decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and other subordinate judicial fora in India indicate that the key issues debated upon while deciding the validity and enforceability of secrecy clauses post-termination inter alia include, i) whether confidential information or a tra...

Sexual harassment charge: HR manager told to pay Rs 50,000 for 60 months to ex-employee Jan 7, 2017, 10.57AM IST Page 1 of 4 BENGALURU: The state labour department has imposed a monthly penalty of Rs 50,000 for five years on a senior manager of a software company who is facing charges of sexual harassment. The department also directed the company not to promote him or give him any hike for the next three years. The additional labour commissioner, who is the appellate authority, has held the company responsible for the violation and asked it to pay monetary compensation to the woman. The complainant, a former employee of I P Infusion Software India Private Limited in Mahadevapura, had said she was sexually harassed by Bharat Chandrashekhar, senior manager (HR), while she was in service. She appealed to the labour department after the company's internal complaints committee quashed her petition. The woman complained Chandrashekhar had comme...