Google receives no relief as the Supreme Courts upholds the NCLAT order refusing to halt CCI’s Rs 1337 crore penalty
In a setback for Google, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear its appeal against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) judgement denying an interim stay on a Rs 1,337 crore penalty imposed on it. The Supreme Court directed the NCLAT to rule on Google’s appeal against the competition regulator’s ruling imposing a Rs 1337 crore penalty by March 31. The court also gave Google seven days to pay a 10% penalty issued by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
Google had first filed an appeal against the CCI order with the NCLAT. NCLAT, on the other hand, had rejected the request to suspend the antitrust watchdog’s order. The company previously stated that the CCI order would increase the cost of smartphones in India and lead to a “proliferation of unregulated applications” that might endanger users and national security.
Google stated in an earlier blog post that if it follows CCI’s decision, which calls for enabling distinct versions of Android (often known as “forks”), the ecosystem will be harmed. “Devices based on incompatible “forks” would prohibit Google from safeguarding such devices, since these versions would not support the security and user safety features that Google provides,” according to the post.
Meanwhile, Indian businesses have applauded the Supreme Court’s decision against Google. “We at MapmyIndia are pleased and immensely thankful to the Supreme Court for their verdict against Google’s appeal,” said Rohan Verma, CEO and ED of MapmyIndia, in a statement in response to the decision. MapmyIndia was addressed and talked about several times before the Supreme Court by several parties, who claimed that MapmyIndia pioneered digital mapping in India in 1995, long before Google, and offered an option in the form of MapmyIndia’s Mappls app vs. the force-installed Google Maps. In court, it was stated how Google foreclosed rivals such as MapmyIndia owing to anti-competitive actions, limiting Indian customers’ capacity to pick and damaging the Indian economy and rivals such as MapmyIndia.
The order also asked for alternative Android app shops to be allowed on the Google Play Store, which is completely against Play Store standards. Such changes, according to Google, may expose users to “predatory applications that expose users to financial fraud, data theft, and a host of other threats abound on the internet, both from India and other nations.”
“The unchecked spread of such applications on less secure devices can expose broad swaths of Indian consumers to the possibility of their data being exposed and pose concerns for individual and national security,” according to the post.
The CCI fined Google in two separate incidents last year. In the Android case, Google faces a fine of around Rs 1,300 crore for allegedly “abusing its market dominance.” The order also directed Google to make other modifications to Android, which would effectively terminate the company’s dominance in the smartphone industry. The order requests that Google not deny “disadvantaged” original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) access to its Play Services plugins and that Play Store licencing to OEMs not be linked to the requirement of pre-installing Google search, Chrome browser, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, or any other Google application.
It has also requested that Google not to limit app developers’ ability to distribute their apps via side-loading, providing their apps outside of Google’s Play Store.
Google has also cautioned that if the CCI’s demands are carried out, app developers would face increased charges. “They will no longer have the level playing field that Android provides today, and bigger developers that can support a wider range of incompatible forks will be able to dominate the market based on their scale rather than the quality of their product.”
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