Delhi High Court to examine whether terms of Google Ads bar advertisers from arbitration in India

The Delhi High Court recently said that it will examine whether the terms of Google’s Advertising Program bar an advertiser from availing legal remedies or filing for arbitration in India [Startupwala Private Limited v Google India Private Limited]. .Justice Prathiba M Singh issued notice to Google on a plea filed by a company named Startupwala and asked the US headquartered tech-giant to file its reply on the issue.“These advertising programs may be availed of by millions of customers of Google India Pvt Limited within the country and, thus, the Court would like to consider as to whether such a clause [clause 13 of Advertisement Terms] would in fact prevent people like the Petitioner from availing their legal remedies in accordance with law in India or should arbitration in such cases be held in India,” the Court recorded in its order..Startupwala moved the High Court under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking a direction to Google India to maintain status quo by reinstating all digital ads of the company which were disapproved/marked as `Limited’ in December 2023 and January 2024.It also sought to restrain Google from disapproving any remaining ads which were marked as ‘Limited by Policy’.The petitioner said that since August, 2023 some of the advertisements released by Startupwala were being disapproved by the Google advertisement program upon giving reference to a policy called ‘Government Documents and Official Services’.The Court was told that Clause 13 of the Advertisement Terms provides for an arbitration clause which states that the disputes between parties would be resolved by arbitration which will be conducted in Santa Clara County, California, USA.Startupwala contended that this was a standard arbitration clause in the Advertisement Terms which precludes them from exercising their legal remedies effectively..Google raised the issue of territorial jurisdiction and maintainability. Its counsel sought time to file a short reply..Justice Singh considered the case and directed Google to file a reply within two weeks.“…it is directed that those advertisements which have currently not been blocked and are labelled as `Eligible (limited)’ in the above screenshots shall not be blocked or taken down till the next date of hearing. Mr. Mason submits that the said advertisements which are under the Petitioner’s control ought not to be modified. Accordingly, the above order shall be subject to the condition that the advertisements would be run as they are running and the content thereof shall not be modified till the next date of hearing,” the single-judge ordered..Advocates Devashish Marwah, Biyanka Bhatia, Aneesha Rastogi and Shohit represented Startupwala.Google India was represented through advocates Neel Mason, Vihan Dang, Ekta Sharma, Pragya Jain, Ujjawal Bhargava and Aditya Mathur..[Read Order]