In a significant development, tech giant Google said on Monday said that it filed an appeal in the Supreme Court regarding the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT’s) decision on the Android case.
“Today, we filed an appeal in the Supreme Court regarding the NCLAT’s decision in the Android case. The NCLAT correctly found that harm for anti-competitive behaviour needs to be proven, but did not apply this requirement to several of the CCI’s directions that it upheld,” a company spokesperson said.
The development comes after the NCLAT upheld ₹1,337 crore penalty for anti-competitive conduct in the Android ecosystem by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The appellate tribunal simultaneously had set aside CCI’s four critical directions – of the 10 non-monetary directives it issued in its Android ruling of October 20, 2022 – that would have forced Google to change its business model.
These relate to the requirement of Google to share its Play Service APIs with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), app developers and its existing or potential competitors; non-restriction of the un-installing of its pre-installed apps by users; allowing app store developers to distribute through Play Store; and not restricting the ability of app developers, in any manner, distribute their apps through side-loading.
The company was given 30 days to pay the fine, and comply with the remaining six directions.
“We look forward to presenting our case before the Supreme Court and demonstrating how Android has benefitted Indian users, developers, and OEMs, and powered India’s digital transformation,” the company spokesperson.
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Published on June 26, 2023
