The Madras High Court (HC) has reserved its judgement on a plea filed by Indian startups against Google’s user choice billing system. The court heard arguments from both sides, with Google’s senior counsel, PS Raman, stating that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has no authority to decide the commission that Google can charge under the billing policy. Raman also criticized Indian startups, claiming that they earn significant profits from distributing their apps on the Play Store while complaining about Google’s dominant market share.
In response, the Indian startups argued that Google still holds the upper hand in altering contracts and bringing in new policies, even if the parties are assumed to be equally strong. They emphasized that courts have the power to impose limitations when one party has made a choice for both contracting parties.
Raman further contended that the Indian startups have signed a contract with Google Asia Pacific, and therefore, Google LLC should not be made a party to the matter, citing the terms of the agreement.
The dispute revolves around a suit filed by Bharat Matrimony, Shaadi.com, and other Indian startups challenging Google’s new billing policy. The startups sought an order from the court to restrain Google from delisting their apps for non-compliance with the contentious billing system. Under the previous regime, Google charged app developers a commission of 15-30% for listing on the app marketplace and using the proprietary payments system. After facing penalties from the CCI, Google revised its user choice billing system but still imposed commissions ranging from 11-26% on startups, regardless of their use of the in-house billing system.
Indian startups filed multiple cases in the Madras High Court and the Delhi High Court to prevent Google from implementing the new policy. The Madras HC previously directed startups to pay a reduced commission of 4% to Google on the gross revenue generated via the Play Store and warned against app delisting.
Meanwhile, Google has challenged the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s ruling upholding the INR 1,338 crore penalty imposed on the tech giant by the CCI, moving the Supreme Court for relief.
