SUMMARY
The latest dismissal was ordered by a bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu
The court has also protected two companies for three weeks, and asked Google not to de-list their mobile applications till then
The protected companies are reportedly entitled to move the Supreme Court on the issue further
The Madras High Court on Friday (January 19) dismissed the appeals of startups against Alphabet Inc’s Google for its in-app payment billing policy on the play store mobile app marketplace.
The court has, however, asked Google not to delist the startups’ mobile applications for three weeks.
The move comes as another blow to the startups as this is the second dismissal by the HC since August 2023, after it dismissed 14 out of 16 pleas filed by the homegrown startups against the tech giant.
Back then, the HC observed that while any order passed by it on the pleas would only be applicable to the parties that have challenged the policy and any directive passed by the Competition Commission of India (CII) would cover all concerned businesses.
The latest dismissal was ordered by a bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu.
According to a Moneycontrol report, the protected companies are entitled to move the Supreme Court on the issue further.
The development came after some internet-based companies including Matrimony, Shaadi.com, Unacademy, Kuku FM, TrulyMadly, QuackQuack, Aha, Stage, and Kutumb filed a petition after a judge of the HC held their pleas against the tech giant as ‘not maintainable’.
The debate over the billing system of Google emerged after the tech giant reduced its commission to 11-26% following CII’s intervention over the former commission range of 15-30%, for apps requiring in-app purchases.
In 2023, startups formed a 40-member task force to address the concerns with Google Play Billing System (GPBS). The taskforce was constituted under the leadership of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) along with several startup founders. Interestingly, the taskforce also included a representative from Google.
The taskforce was formed to determine the approach towards Google over its billing policy, as the Supreme Court hears the cross-appeals lodged by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and Google, relating to the antitrust regulator’s ruling against the tech giant.
Commenting on the issue, People Group’s founder and CEO Anupam Mittal termed the tech major ‘Digital East India Company’. Last year, talking to Inc42, he compared Google’s billing policy with that of lagaan (tax) imposed by the British rulers on the Indian farmers during the colonial era.
