Google is preparing to challenge India’s antitrust ruling on Android

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Google is preparing to challenge India’s antitrust ruling on Android. (Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN/AFP)

Google has filed a lawsuit in India’s Supreme Court to block a ruling by the country’s antitrust authority. India’s Competition Commission fined Google $161.9 million last October and barred the search giant from requiring OEMs to pre-install Google apps and services on their phones. While the fine is small for a tech giant like Google, the order is likely to force the company to radically change its deals with Android makers.

Last October, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined Google $161.9 million for its “anti-competitive” Android policies. The fine was followed by the country’s antitrust watchdog which imposed a rule to prevent the search giant from requiring OEMs to pre-install Google apps and services on their phones. But Google wants to block the ruling, which is due to take effect on Jan. 19, and its only final straw is India’s Supreme Court.

While the fine isn’t the first for Google, and it certainly won’t be the last, the restriction that is expected to go into effect later this month on the tech giants’ operations in India has the potential to reshape the Android ecosystem. For CCI, Google imposes an “unfair condition” on phone makers by requiring them to pre-install Google apps as part of the deals. This, in turn, should discourage companies from developing heavily modified Android variants that rely less on Google’s services.

Google, of course, wasn’t happy with the outcome, and unfortunately, the appeals court rejected the company’s request to block the ruling, leaving the tech giant with its last straw: India’s Supreme Court. With the tech giant on its last legs, according to court documents seen by Reuters, Google appealed the court’s decision in the country’s highest court on Saturday.

Google believes some of CCI’s directives cannot be implemented and the company “has no choice” but to go to the Supreme Court for compensation, the source added. However, the Commission up to this point argues that Google is exercising its “dominance” to eliminate competitors in search, app stores, web browsers and video services.

For context, historically, Google has required that phones with the Play Store installed also include apps like Chrome and YouTube, often with a prominent placement on the home screen. While you can always install alternatives like Firefox and Vimeo, they aren’t included out of the box. Brands can use the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) if they want more flexibility, but they lose access to the Play Store in the process.

Google also said in its filings that the ICC’s investigation unit copied parts of a 2018 European ruling against the US tech giant, Reuters reported. According to people familiar with the matter, Google was concerned about India’s decision as the remedies it ordered were seen as more radical than the European Commission’s landmark 2018 ruling for imposing illegal restrictions on Android mobile device makers.

Also with the EC, Google contested the record fine of 4.1 billion euros ($4.3 billion) in that case. In its filing to an Indian appeals court, Google argues that the ICC’s investigative unit largely copied a European Commission decision, distributing evidence from Europe that hasn’t been examined in India.

There are more than 50 instances of copy-and-pasting, some word-for-word, and the watchdog has wrongly dismissed the issue, Google said in its filing that isn’t public but has been reviewed by Reuters. The Commission has not conducted an impartial, balanced and legally sound investigation Google’s mobile app distribution practices are pro-competitive and not unfair/exclusive.

Dashvenjit Kaur | @DashveenjitK

Dashveen writes for Tech Wire Asia and TechHQ, providing research-based commentary on the exciting world of technology in business. Earlier, you reported on the terrain of Malaysia’s fast-paced political arena and stock market.

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