Article
Patent Rights vs Competition Law: Can Dominant Pharmaceutical Companies Escape CCI Scrutiny?
For now, the answer is "not reliably, and not yet". In February 2026, the Supreme Court stayed the part of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's ruling in CCI v. Swapan Dey which held that the Competition Commission of India has no power to examine conduct flowing from the exercise of patent rights, and confined the appeal to the question of jurisdiction alone. Eight months on, no judgment has been reported. Hence, a patentee in India cannot treat its patent as a shield against the Competition Act, 2002, while a complainant cannot assume that the Commission will hear it. Both sides are working inside a gap that the Supreme Court has chosen to close but has not yet closed.
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