Google has accused India’s antitrust authority of ordering changes to its business model “only to protect” its competitor Amazonwhich complained that it was struggling to develop a modified version of the Android system due to Google’s limitations, according to legal documents.
Google has appealed to India’s Supreme Court to have the ruling overturned Competition Commission of India (CCI) October order ordering the company to make 10 changes to its business model after the Chamber of Industry and Commerce found it abusing its market dominance with its Android operating system, which powers 97 percent of India’s smartphones.
Google’s recent filing with the Supreme Court shows that Google is increasingly at odds over how the Chamber of Commerce conducted its Android investigation.
In an earlier filing in December with a lower arbitral tribunal, Google said CCI officials “copied” parts of a European judgment against the US company in a similar case. CCI denied the accusation.
The October CCI order, which also fined Google $163 million (approximately $1,345 crore) against Google, ordered the company to stop the liberal distribution of modified versions of its Android operating system, known as Android forks. without permitting license restrictions such as those associated with it, right down to the pre-installation of Google apps.
Amazon told the CCI during the investigation that Google’s restrictions were hampering the development of its Android fork called Fire OS, and Google said the regulator wrongly relied on this when issuing its negative decision against the company, it said Company in Supreme Court case dated June 26.
“Around the world, FireOS has failed commercially due to poor user experience. In India, the Fire phone hasn’t even been launched yet,” Google argued in its 1,004-page document, which was unpublished but reviewed by Reuters.
“Therefore, the Commission labeled Amazon’s failure to compete in India as a failure and attributed it to Google’s agreements.”
The CCI’s order was “issued solely to protect Amazon — which was complaining that its attempts to create a forked version of Android weren’t working due to the[Google’s]limitations.”
Google declined to comment, citing ongoing legal proceedings. Amazon also declined to comment, while the CCI did not respond to the Alphabet-owned company’s lawsuit, which is expected to be heard in the coming days.
In 2021, South Korea fined Google US$159 million (about Rs.1,312 million) for blocking customized versions of Android.
Google was particularly concerned about India’s Android decision, as the guidelines were seen as even more far-reaching than those imposed in the European Commission’s landmark 2018 ruling on the company’s Android market abuse.
Google has challenged both the South Korean and European orders.
In its October ruling, the CCI said its investigators found that Google’s contractual restrictions had reduced “device makers’ ability and incentive to develop and sell” devices based on Android forks, in favor of Google’s interests harmed the consumer.
Amazon told Indian investigators that developing Fire OS as a forked Android took “significant resources,” including thousands of man-hours, court filings show.
Google is arguing against a penalty in India’s Supreme Court, saying it has not abused its market position. The CCI wants Google to comply with all of its policies, the regulator said in a separate filing seen by Reuters.
Google has made sweeping changes to its Android business model in India in accordance with the CCI policy.
A lower arbitration panel ruled that Google must pay the fine and confirmed that the company abused its market position, consistent with CCI’s findings. However, the US company continues to fight back in the Supreme Court.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
