Challenging a fine imposed by the Competition Commission of India (ICC) for alleged abuse of a dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem, Google claimed that the order copied parts of a European ruling, “providing evidence… that they were not tested in India.”
On Wednesday, the National Court of Appeal for Company Law agreed to hear Google’s appeal of the antitrust ruling, but refused to block the order in the meantime. “We are of the opinion that at this time, given the voluminous nature of the appeal, there is no need to enter any interim order,” the two-member panel of the tribunal said, according to Reuters.
For now, NCLAT has asked Google to pay 10% of the Rs 1,337.76 crore fine imposed on the tech giant by the ICC, it reported. PTI news agency.
According to a Reuters report, the US company has argued that the decision – which imposed a fine of nearly Rs 1,338 million along with a cease and desist order – should be overturned. The news agency claims that Google, in its submission to the National Company Law Appeal Tribunal (NCLAT), claims that the ICC investigative unit “copied extensively from a European Commission decision, deploying evidence from Europe that they were not tested in India.”
According to the report, the file says: “There are more than 50 cases of copying,” in some cases “word for word,” and the watchdog wrongly dismissed the issue.”
“The Commission failed to carry out an impartial, balanced and legally sound investigation… Google’s mobile app distribution practices are pro-competitive and are not unfair or exclusive.”
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The European Commission, in a 2018 ruling, fined Google a record €4.1 billion for allegedly imposing “illegal restrictions on manufacturers of Android mobile devices.”
In a statement, Google said it decided to appeal the ICC’s decision because it “represents a major setback for our Indian users and businesses,” but did not mention the copy-paste allegations.
The ICC entered two judgments against Google, imposing huge fines in both cases. In the ruling that Google has now challenged before NCLAT, the ICC held in October that Google’s licensing of its Play Store “shall not be tied to a requirement to pre-install” Google’s search services, the Chrome browser, YouTube, or any other Google app.
According to Reuters, the appeal alleges that while the ICC found antitrust violations related to Google’s search app, Chrome browser and YouTube, its order “goes beyond” that.
For his part, he Economic Times quoted a “person familiar with the matter” as saying that Google was “optimistic that NCLAT will consider the challenge Android stakeholders will face if a suspension is not granted, pending the outcome of the appeal”.
In the second ruling, Google was fined with Rs 936 crore for restricting app developers from using third-party billing or payment processing services in India. The technology giant has also appealed this antitrust decision, but has not yet ruled.
Note: This article was first published on January 3, 2022, and was updated on January 4 with the court’s decision.
Article republished from The Wire as part of an agreement between both parties to share content. Link to the original article:https://thewire.in/tech/google-challenge-cci-antitrust-eu-order
