In a setback for Google, the Supreme Court Thursday refused to entertain a plea by the Android-maker against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) order refusing interim stay on Rs 1,337 crore penalty on it. The apex court asked NCLAT to decide the appeal of Google against the competition regulator's order on Rs 1337 crore penalty by March 31. The court also granted Google seven days to deposit 10 per cent of the penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Google had initially filed an appeal with the NCLAT against the CCI order. However, NCLAT had declined to stay the antitrust watchdog’s order. The company had earlier said that the CCI order would result in devices getting more expensive in India and lead to a “proliferation of unchecked apps” that could pose a threat to user and national security. In an earlier blog post, Google noted that if it were to abide by CCI’s order, which calls for allowing different versions of Android (commonly known as ‘Forks’), then the ecosystem will be harmed. “Devices built on incompatible ‘forks’ would prevent Google from securing those devices, as these versions will not support the security and user safety features that Google provides,” the post noted. Supreme Court declines to interfere with National Company Law Appellate Tribunal order which refused to stay the Competition Commission of India order imposing Rs 1338 crore penalty on Google India. @IndianExpress — Ananthakrishnan G (@axidentaljourno) January 19, 2023 Meanwhile Indian companies have welcomed the SC's stance against Google. Reacting to the decision, Rohan Verma CEO and ED fo MapmyIndia said in a statement, "We at MapmyIndia are elated and extremely grateful to the Supreme Court for their order against Google’s appeal. MapmyIndia was mentioned and spoken of multiple times in the Supreme court today by multiple parties, who said that MapmyIndia pioneered digital mapping in India since 1995, far before the birth of Google, and offer an alternative in terms of MapmyIndia’s Mappls app versus the force pre-installed Google Maps. It was discussed in the court how Google foreclosed rivals such as MapmyIndia due to their anti-competitive practices, harming Indian consumers ability to choose, and harming the Indian economy and rivals such as MapmyIndia." The order also called for allowing other Android app stores on the Google Play Store- something which is strictly against Play Store policies. According to Google, such changes will ensure that users are exposed to “predatory apps that expose users to financial fraud, data theft and a number of other dangers abound on the internet, both from India and other countries.” “Unchecked proliferation of such apps on less secure devices can expose vast swathes of Indian users to risk of their data being exposed and pose threats for individual and national security,” the post said. CCI two penalties against Google Last year, the CCI fined Google in two separate cases. In the Android case, the fine against Google is over Rs 1,300 crore for allegedly “abusing its market dominant position”. The order also asked Google to implement other changes to Android, which would end the company’s dominance in the smartphone market. The order asks that Google should not deny access to its Play Services plugins to “disadvantaged” original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and the licencing of Play Store to OEMs should not be linked to the requirement of pre-installing Google search, Chrome browser, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail or any other Google application. It has also asked Google not to restrict the ability of app developers to distribute their apps through side-loading — offering their apps outside of Google’s Play Store. Google has also warned that if the CCI’s orders were to be followed, app developers will have to pay higher costs. “They will no longer have the level playing field they have today with Android, and larger developers, who can support a wider range of incompatible forks, will be able to dominate the market based on their scale, rather than the quality of their product.”
