Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V: Google accuses India’s anti-trust body of copying entire paragraphs from EU’s decision

Google has alleged that India’s antitrust authorities did not investigate the matter of Google abusing the market dominance of Android properly and that they relied heavily on the decision taken by the European Union. Google alleges that the fine of $161 million or Rs 1337 crore imposed by the Competition Commission of India is therefore not justified and the matter needs to be reinvestigated.

Google has alleged that the CCI has copied significant portions of the judgement that the EU had passed in a similar case, and pasted them as is. In some sections, Google found that entire paragraphs were pasted, verbatim.

By copying and pasting portions of the EU’s decision, the CCI has deployed evidence that was significant in Europe, but was neither deliberated upon in the country nor were they relevant to India.  

The Competition Commission of India had imposed two fines on Google totalling Rs 2,274 crore over the tech company’s anti-competitive behaviour. The allegations against Google were twofold. The first penalty of Rs 1,338 crore was imposed on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in relation to Android mobile devices and forcing OEM device manufacturers to provide Google’s own apps over the apps from their competitors as the default, preinstalled options.  

The CCI had fined Google in India a record Rs 1,338 crore for suppressing competition through Google searches and its Android App store and had ordered the company to change restrictions imposed on smartphone manufacturers by allowing them to decide what apps and app stores to preinstall.

The second penalty, amounting to Rs 936 crore was imposed for making access to the Play Store for app developers dependent on mandatory usage of GPBS (Google Play’s Billing System) for paid apps and in-app purchases.

“There are more than 50 instances of copypasting,” in some cases “word-for-word”, and the watchdog erroneously dismissed the issue, Google said in its filing. The company also added, “The Commission failed to conduct an impartial, balanced, and legally sound investigation … Google’s mobile app distribution practices are pro-competitive and not unfair/ exclusionary."