SC To Hear Google, CCI Pleas In Android Case On July 14

The Supreme Court on Friday said it will on July 14 hear the cross-pleas of Google and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) challenging the verdict of an appellate tribunal in a case related to Google’s anti-competitive practices in the Android mobile device case.

In March this year, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upheld the INR 1,338 Cr penalty slapped on Google by the CCI. However, the tribunal set aside certain directions issued by the CCI.

The NCLAT set aside the CCI directions relating to the non-monetary directives that would have compelled Google to allow uninstalling of its pre-installed apps on Android devices.

Both the parties, the tech major and the competition watchdog, approached the SC regarding the judgment.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha adjourned the hearing to next Friday as senior advocate Harish Salve, representing one of the parties, was unavailable, news agency PTI reported.

Last year, the CCI fined Google INR 1,337.7 Cr for abusing its dominant position in the Android devices market. Besides, it imposed another fine of INR 936 Cr on the tech giant for its Play Store policies.

In its plea to NCLAT, Google said that the CCI failed to conduct an “impartial, balanced, and legally sound investigation” while ignoring evidence from Indian users, app developers, and OEMs.

Following the NCLAT judgment, Google said that the tribunal failed to look into various aspects of the CCI’s ruling, especially those pertaining to proving harm related to anti-competitive behaviour.

Since the CCI verdict came out last year, the two sides have been engaged in battles in multiple courts.

Google has also reportedly accused the antitrust watchdog of favouring ecommerce giant Amazon. The tech giant said in an SC filing that the CCI asked it to make changes to its business model “only to protect” Amazon, which complained about the challenges faced by it in developing a modified version of the Android system due to Google’s restrictions.

The company is also entangled in a legal dispute with Indian startups over its user choice billing system.

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