Google Calls India's Competition Commission Only Shares Evidence Of Copy Paste From The European Commission

Google said the Indian Anti-Competition Commission filed a copy and paste lawsuit. (photo: dock. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Google has told a court in India that the country's antitrust investigator copied part of the ruling in Europe against the US company, in accusations of abuse of market dominance of its Android operating system. They asked for the decision to be overturned.

India's Competition Commission (CCI) in October fined Alphabet Inc's subsidiary Google $161 million for exploiting its dominant position in markets such as online searches and Android app stores. CCI also asks Google to change the limits imposed on smartphone makers related to actions before installing the app.

A source told Reuters in October that Google was concerned about India's decision because the ordered solution was seen as a broader impact than the European Commission's important 2018 decision, for imposing unlawful restrictions on Android mobile device makers. Google has received a record fine of 4.1 billion euros (Rp66.8 trillion) in that case.

While in its defense in India's appeals court, Google argues that the CCI investigative unit "extensively produced from the European Commission's decision, spreading evidence from Europe that was not examined in India".

"There are more than 50 examples of definite copies, in some cases of "word after word", and supervisors mistakenly ignore the issue," Google said in its defense.

"The Commission has failed to carry out an impartial, balanced, and legally healthy investigation... Google's mobile app distribution practices are pro-competitive and not unfair/excluding," Google said.

A CCI spokesman and the European Commission did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the lawsuit.

Google said in a statement that it decided to appeal the CCI decision for believing "the punishment brings a major setback to our users and business in India". They did not comment on the copy-paste allegations in their filing.

Google has asked the court to overturn the CCI decision, and the case will go to trial on Wednesday, January 4.

India's competition decision comes as Google faces increased antitrust surveillance worldwide. Google licenses its Android system to smartphone makers, but critics say they also impose anti-competitive restrictions.

The US company says Android has created more options for everyone and such agreements help keep operating systems free. According to Counterpoint Research estimates, in Europe, 75% of the 550 million smartphones run on Android, compared to 97% of India's 600 million devices.

CCI decided last October that Google's license to its Play Store should not be associated with Google's pre-installation requirements, Chrome browsers, YouTube, or other Google apps.

In its appeal, Google accused CCI of only finding antitrust violations related to Google search apps, Chrome browsers, and YouTube, but the decision was "more than that".

Separately, Google has also appealed against another Indian antitrust decision in which Google was fined $113 million for limiting the use of third-party billing or payment processing services in India.