Google to contest Russia antitrust ruling on Android

Google will contest in court the Russian antitrust agency’s ruling that it broke competition law by abusing its dominant position with its Android mobile platform, the US technology giant said on Tuesday. Russia’s competition watchdog ruled in September that Google had broken the law by requiring pre-installation of certain applications on mobile devices running on Android. “We intend to contest this decision and explain in court why we consider it unfounded,” the company said in its official Russian blog. Google has until December 18 to amend its contracts with smartphone manufacturers in order to comply with the ruling in the case that was launched by local rival Yandex. Yandex said it will make a statement shortly. It said on Friday that it had also asked the European Commission to investigate Google practices in relation to Android in the European Union. The new complaint could strengthen the case against Google, possibly giving enough ammunition to EU antitrust regulators to eventually charge the company with anti-competitive business practices, on top of accusations related to its Google Shopping service. The formal request was filed in April 2015 and largely mirrors the Russian company’s claims against the US company in a Russian anti-monopoly case that Yandex won. Russia’s competition watchdog ruled in September that Google had broken the law by requiring pre-installation of its search application on mobile devices running on its Android operating system. Reuters