Google Claims India Copied European Ruling

Google bid to reverse the Indian Competition Commission’s decision saying it has copied large parts of a European Commission ruling in 2018. An Indian court rejected finding it guilty of using Android to dominate parts of the market.

The tribunal had declined a request by the company to block the ruling and quash a fine of $161 million, stating it did not see any reason to pass any interim order given the voluminous nature of the appeal. Earlier this week, Google had argued CCI’s investigations unit had copied and pasted extensively from the EC’s decision five years ago, deploying evidence from Europe that was not examined in India.

Google claims there are more than 50 instances of copy-pasting in India’s ruling, in some cases word for word with the EC’s order. Google added it had appealed India’s decision because it presents a major setback for Indian users and businesses. CCI has not yet responded to the copying allegations.

CCI hit Google with the fine in October 2022 following a probe spanning several years, accusing the company of a range of anti-competitive breaches related to its Android OS. It ordered Google to change its practices after finding it had abused its dominant position by mandating device manufacturers to install its entire Google Mobile Suite without giving vendors the chance to opt-out. The crux of the CCI’s allegations lay in Google exploiting its dominance in online search and its app store.