BENGALURU: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has refused to grant interim relief to tech giant Google in its appeal against the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) order that imposed the firm a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore.
Google had sought a stay on the penalty imposed for abusing its dominant position with regard to its Play Store policies. A two-member bench issued notices to the CCI and other respondents and posted the matter for hearing on April 17, 2023. On October 25, the CCI imposed a second penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on the tech giant apart from issuing a cease-and-desist order.
Earlier, on October 20, the antitrust regulator had slapped a fine of Rs 1,337.76 crore on Google. The search engine giant had challenged both these orders, but the NCLAT refused to grant any interim relief. Google’s Play Store policies require the app developers to exclusively and mandatorily use Google Play’s Billing System (GPBS) not only for receiving payments for apps (and other digital products like audio, video, games) distributed/sold through the Google Play Store but also for certain in-app purchases, CCI had said.
App developers can’t, within an app, provide users with a direct link to a webpage containing an alternative payment method or use language that encourages a user to purchase digital item outside of the app. If app developers don’t comply with Google’s policy of using GPBS, they are not permitted to list their apps on Play Store and thus would lose out vast pool of potential customers in the form of Android users, it added. Making access to Play Store dependent on mandatory usage of GPBS for paid apps and in-app purchases is one-sided and arbitrary and devoid of any legitimate business interest. The app developers are left bereft of the inherent choice to use payment processor of their liking from the open market, the antitrust watchdog added.
In November, Google had said it was pausing enforcement of the requirement for developers to use Google Play’s billing system for purchase of digital goods and services while it reviews legal options.
Mandatory use of Google Play’s Billing System
On October 25, the CCI imposed a second penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on the tech giant apart from issuing a cease-and-desist order. Earlier, on October 20, the antitrust regulator had slapped a fine of Rs 1,337.76 crore on Google. The search engine giant had challenged both these orders, but the NCLAT refused to grant any interim relief. Google’s Play Store policies require app developers to mandatorily use Google Play’s Billing System (GPBS)