Google takes legal action against India's Competition Commission, alleging favouritism towards Amazon

Google has lodged a complaint with India's Supreme Court, accusing the country's antitrust body, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), of ordering changes to its business model solely to protect its rival, Amazon. According to Reuters, the legal papers reveal that Amazon had complained about its struggles to develop a modified version of the Android system due to Google's restrictions. Google is seeking to overturn the CCI's October order, which demanded 10 changes to its business model after finding that it had abused its dominant position in the market with its Android operating system, which powers 97 per cent of India's smartphones.

According to Google's recent filing with the Supreme Court, there is a growing disagreement between the company and the CCI regarding the Android investigation. In a previous filing in December, Google had accused CCI officers of "copypasting" portions of a European ruling against the company in a similar case, a claim which the CCI denied.

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The CCI's October order, which also included a fine of $163 million, required Google to allow the distribution of modified versions of its Android operating system, known as Android forks, without any licensing restrictions, including pre-installation requirements for Google apps. During the investigation, Amazon informed the CCI that Google's restrictions had impeded the development of its Android fork called Fire OS. Google argues that the CCI unjustly relied on Amazon's complaint when making its adverse decision against Google, stating that Fire OS had failed commercially on a global scale and was not even launched in India.

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Google's court filing, which consists of a comprehensive 1,004-page document, asserts that the CCI's directive was aimed solely at protecting Amazon's interests. According to Google, the CCI's decision was a response to Amazon's complaint that its attempts to create a forked version of Android were unsuccessful due to Google's restrictions.

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Google has expressed significant concern over the CCI's Android decision in India, as the directives are considered to be even more far-reaching than those imposed by the European Commission in its landmark 2018 ruling against Google for Android market abuse. Google has challenged both the South Korean and European orders.

In its October ruling, the CCI stated that its investigators had found that Google's contractual restrictions had diminished the ability and motivation of device manufacturers to develop and sell devices operating on Android forks, thus harming consumer interests.

Amazon informed Indian investigators that the creation of Fire OS, as a forked Android system, required substantial resources, including thousands of employee hours.

Google is currently arguing against any penalty in India's Supreme Court and denying allegations of market abuse. The CCI, in a separate filing seen by Reuters, insists that Google must comply with all its directives.

Following the CCI's order, Google has made significant changes to its Android business model in India. A lower tribunal has ruled that Google must pay the penalty and confirmed the company's market abuse, in line with the CCI's findings. However, Google continues to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.

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