Google Alleges India Antitrust Body Copied Parts of EU Order: According to court documents, Google has claimed that Indian antitrust investigators plagiarised findings from a European judgment against the company for abusing the market dominance of its Android operating system.
In October, India’s Competition Commission (CCI) penalized Alphabet Inc’s Google $161 million for abusing its dominant position in online search and the Android app store. The CCI also requested that Google modify its rules on the pre-installation of programs on smartphones.
According to Reuters‘ reporting in October, sources were concerned about the Indian decision because the remedies ordered were considered more sweeping by Google than the European Commission’s historic 2018 ruling for placing unlawful limitations on Android mobile device makers.
In that case, Google is disputing a record-breaking fine of 4.1 billion euros ($4.3 billion). “copy-pasted heavily from a European Commission judgment, utilizing information from Europe that was not considered in India,” Google claims in its filing with an Indian appeals tribunal.
According to Google’s complaint, accessed by Reuters, which is not publicly available, there are “more than 50 instances of copypasting,” in some cases “word for word,” and the watchdog erroneously rejected the matter.
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The company argues that Google’s mobile app distribution policies are pro-competitive and not unfair/exclusive, but the Commission failed to conduct an unbiased, balanced, and legally competent inquiry. Neither the CCI nor the European Commission responded promptly to calls for comment.
Because “it constitutes a severe setback for our Indian users and businesses,” Google stated, “we have chosen to challenge the CCI’s decision.” In its filing, it said nothing about the charges of plagiarism. This lawsuit, in which Google has urged the tribunal to overturn the CCI’s order, will be heard on Wednesday.
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Google is the subject of growing antitrust scrutiny worldwide, including in light of the recent verdict in India. Smartphone manufacturers can license Android from Google, but the company has been accused of being anti-competitive in the limitations it places on the platform.
According to the American corporation, the proliferation of Android’s app store has given users more freedom of choice, and these kinds of deals assist in ensuring that Android remains a free operating system. Counterpoint Research predicts that out of the 550 million smartphones in Europe, 75% run on Android, whereas in India, 97% do.
In October, the CCI declared that “no necessity of pre-installing” Google search services, the Chrome browser, YouTube, or any other Google applications “must not be associated” with the licensing of Google’s Play Store.
Google claims in its appeal that the CCI’s ruling “extends beyond” its search app, Chrome browser, and YouTube in terms of the antitrust violations it discovered.
A separate Indian antitrust ruling penalized Google $113 million for preventing the use of third-party billing or payment processing services in India, a result which Google has also appealed. As of right now, the appeal has not been heard.
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For almost 4 years, Jason Martin has been a freelance writer for newspapers, journals, blogs, books, and online material. He covers the most recent news as well as many other topics.