Madras High Court dismisses appeal filed by tech companies against new Google billing policy

The Madras High Court on Friday upheld a single-judge ruling that rejected petitions by various tech companies against Google's new user choice billing system [Info Edge India ltd vs Google India Pvt Ltd and 6 Others]..A bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu passed the order today on appeals filed by the tech companies challenging the single-judge ruling. However, the division bench granted interim protection to the tech companies to protect them from getting their apps delisted from Google Playstore for another three weeks, after which such protection would automatically come to an end..The Court was dealing with a batch of thirteen civil appeals filed by several tech companies such as Info Edge, Matrimony.com, Alt Digital Media etc., against Google and its subsidiaries..In August last year, a single-judge had dismissed fourteen of the sixteen pleas from Indian startups and tech companies against Google's app billing policy.While dismissing the petitions, Justice S Sounthar had held that the issue fell under the jurisdiction of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and that the remedy available under the Competition Act was much more comprehensive than that available before a civil court.These tech companies then challenged this single-judge order before the division bench..Earlier, Google required all app developers to use its Google Play Billing System (GPBS) for all transactions including paid app downloads and in-app purchases. App developers were charged a commission between 15 to 30 percent for the services that Google offered.Google’s new billing system allows users to opt for "an alternative billing" option besides GPBS. It allows app developers to use third-party billing systems, but imposes a service fee of 11 to 26 percent.Matrimony and the other app developers opposed this fee before the High Court..Senior counsel P Chidambaram, Sriram Panchu, Satish Parasaran and Srinath Sridevan appeared for the tech companies..Senior counsel PS Raman (now Advocate General of Tamil Nadu) and Sajan Poovayya appeared for Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc.