Google appeal against CCI's ₹1,337 crore penalty : No stay (for now); NCLAT directs Google to deposit 10 percent of fine amount

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday directed Google to deposit 10 percent of the ₹1337.76 crore fine amount imposed on it by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) before hearing the tech giant's plea for relief against CCI order [Google LLC & Anr v Competition Commission of India]. .The CCI had in October 2022, imposed the penalty on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem. Google then moved NCLAT against the order..A bench of Justice Rakesh Kumar, member (judicial) and Dr Alok Srivastava, member (technical) of NCLAT declined to pass any interim order on Thursday but said that the plea for interim relief and stay on the CCI order will be heard on February 13."The appellant is directed to deposit 10% of the fine amount with the Registrar NCLAT as interim measure. Court to hear the application for interim relief and stay on the CCI order on February 13," the NCLAT directed..Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Google, contended that the CCI order is a "copy paste" of 2018 European Commission order which had fined Google 4.1 billion euros for allegedly imposing unlawful restrictions on Android mobile device makers."They have just copy pasted the European Commission order....By this order they are changing the status that has existed since 2005. For the last 17 years," Singhvi said.The NCLAT, however, said that there is no urgency to pass an interim order since the CCI order is from October last year."Even before we give an interim order, we need to understand the matter and go through the records. How do you expect us to pass the order after hearing you for half an hour," the NCLAT said.It then posted the matter for consideration on February 13..Apart from imposing a monetary penalty, the CCI had also directed Google to cease and desist from participating in anti-competitive practices and directed it to modify its conduct within a defined timeline.The Commission examined various practices of Google in relation to licensing of the Android mobile operating system and several of its mobile applications such as the Play Store, Google Search, Google Chrome, YouTube etc.Based on its assessment, the Commission found Google to be dominant in all the relevant markets..The competition watchdog said that Google's multiple agreements governing the rights and obligations of smart device original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) result in a significant competitive to the US tech giant. The underlying objective of Google in imposing various restrictions the agreements was to protect and strengthen its dominant position in general search services, and thus, its revenues via search advertisements, the Commission concluded.It added that the markets should be allowed to compete on merits and the onus was on the dominant players to show that its conduct does not impinge this competition on merits."By virtue of the agreements discussed above, Google ensured that users continue to use its search services on mobile devices which facilitated un-interrupted growth of advertisement revenue for Google.".Read the detailed story on CCI's order here: