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Case brief
What is this about?
The Competition Commission examined allegations by a plugin developer against Automattic Inc. (WordPress) for abusing its dominant position by banning the Informant's plugins. The Commission assessed the relevant markets and found that the bans were due to repeated violations of guidelines, not abuse. Consequently, no prima facie case was made out.
What did the court decide?
The Information filed under Section 19(1)(a) was closed forthwith as no prima facie case of contravention of Section 4 was made out. The request for relief under Section 33 was rejected.
What the court decided
A compact analysis
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
COMPETITION COMMISSION OF INDIA
Case No. 01 of 2023 In Re : Ravi Shankar Tiwari Informant And Automattic Inc. Opposite Party CORAM: Ms. Ravneet Kaur Chairperson Mr. Anil Agrawal Member Ms. Sweta Kakkad Member Mr. Deepak Anurag Member
Order under Section 26(2) of the Competition Act, 2002
- The Information in this matter was filed by Mr. Ravi Shankar Tiwari under Section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) against Automattic Inc. (Opposite Party / OP) alleging contravention of the provisions of Section 4 of the Act.
- The Informant is a software developer from Kolkata. It has been submitted that the Opposite Party is involved in the development of open-source software, applications, blogging websites, plugins, etc. The Informant has further averred that the Opposite Party is the parent company of Wordpress.org [a content management
Case No. 03 of 2023 Page 1 of 8
system (CMS)], wherein the user can create a simple blog as well as a fully operational website and mobile applications.
- As per the OP, for developing a website, a user is typically required to be wellversed with coding and programming. If a user who wishes to develop a website but is not skilled in coding can use a CMS platform which simplifies website development by providing pre-built templates, plugins, and a user-friendly interface for adding, editing, and organizing content. A plugin is stated to be a software addon that is installed/plugged into a website created using any particular CMS to enhance its capabilities.
Issues for consideration
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the delisting of the Informant's plugins by WordPress constitutes an abuse of dominant position under Section 4 of the Act.
Whether the allegations of self-preferencing and denial of market access are justified regarding the ban on the Informant's plugins.
Whether the Information filed under Section 19(1)(a) discloses a prima facie case of contravention of Section 4 disallowing it to remain open under Section 26(2).
Parties & counsel
- petitioner
Ravi Shankar Tiwari Informant
- respondent
Automattic Inc.
Coram
Ravneet Kaur
Case details
As recorded by the court registry
All orders in this case
2 orders share this CNR
- Order 1
- Order 2 — this page
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