From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday told Google’s senior advocate Abhishek M Singhvi to look at the kind of authority it wields in terms of dominance, while hearing for the second day its plea for a stay on the Competition Commission of India (CCI) penalty of Rs 1,337 crore on it.
A Bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, with Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, told Dr Singhvi: “All that you gave us in terms of data in fact militates against your aarguments.”
“Look at the kind of authority which you wield in terms of dominance data indicates 15,000 Android models, 500 million compatible devices 1500 OEMs. When you have that kind of market penetration, then by insisting you necessarily have my bouquet you directly affecting… What the OEM does, impact upon the ultimate consumer,” the Chief Justice said.
“I am one of the players in this ecosystem, and people choose Google Play Store due to its excellence and not because of dominance,” Singhvi submitted. Had there been no Android developed by Google, “would this revolution in telephony had taken place,” he asked.
In Korea, he aid there is a different user and pressed that Google is there due to excellence and not due to dominance. “Where it is voluntary, non-imposed. It is free, non-exclusive. What more you can do?”
On January 11, the Supreme Court had agreed to examine an appeal by Google against a decision by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), declining to stay a Rs 1,337.76 crore penalty imposed on it by the CCI for alleged anti-competitive practices.
Google moved the apex court after the setback at NCLAT, which did not stay the CCI order on abuse of dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem case.
Earlier this month, the NCLAT did not find any urgency to pass an interim order, after noting that Google filed the appeal in December last year, though the CCI passed the order in October.
It directed Google to deposit 10 per cent of the fine amount.
The CCI also imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on the company for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies.
The tribunal had said that there was no urgency shown in the filing of the appeal, therefore Google could not be allowed to press for interim relief.
