The Supreme Court has announced that it will commence hearing the arguments in the ongoing case between Google and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order in the Android case on October 10, 2023. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, has directed both parties to complete and exchange their pleadings or replies by October 3, 2023.
NCLAT Order and Quashed Directives
The NCLAT, in its order, upheld the INR 1,338 crore fine imposed on Google by the CCI for abusing its dominance in the Android ecosystem. However, it quashed four out of the ten directives issued by the CCI, which called for changes in Google’s business model. The NCLAT rejected the CCI’s directive to prevent Google from denying access to its Play services application programming interfaces (APIs) in order to disadvantage other equipment manufacturers, app developers, and competitors. Additionally, it also set aside the directive requiring Google to allow application store developers to distribute their stores through the Play Store.
Appeals and Challenges in the Apex Court
In June, the CCI approached the Supreme Court to challenge a part of the NCLAT order, which stated that the watchdog needed to conduct an ‘effect analysis’ to prove abuse of dominance under Section 4 of the Competition Act. The tribunal emphasized that the test for the effect analysis is whether the abusive conduct is anti-competitive. Simultaneously, Google also approached the Supreme Court, arguing that the tribunal failed to consider various aspects of the CCI’s ruling, particularly in terms of proving harm related to anti-competitive behavior.
Implications and Ongoing Legal Battle
Google aims to have six of the ten directives imposed on it quashed, as failure to do so could result in significant changes to its business model. The Google-CCI case has been a long-standing saga, with the competition watchdog imposing the largest-ever penalty on Google, amounting to INR 1,337.76 crore. Additionally, Google has challenged another penalty of INR 936 crore imposed by the CCI for abuse of dominant position regarding Play Store Policies. While the Supreme Court is yet to take action on this matter, reports suggest that Google has already paid the penalty.
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