Alphabet Inc. & Ors. Vs Competition Commission of India & Anr (NCLAT Delhi)
NCLAT Delhi held that penalty under section 27(b) of the Competition Act, 2002 imposable since Google has abused its dominant position and has violated Section 4(2)(a)(i) and 4(2)(e) of the Competition Act, 2002.
Facts- This Appeal has been filed by Alphabet Inc. with three other Google entities who are referred hereinafter as “Google”. This Appeal has been filed challenging the order dated 25.10.2022 passed by the Competition Commission of India u/s. 27 of the Competition Act, 2002. The Commission after receipt of the information in the above cases passed an order u/s. 26 of the Act directing for investigation. Director General (DG) conducted the investigation as per the Act and submitted a report to the Commission. Thereafter, after hearing the parties the Commission passed the impugned order u/s. 27 of the Act. By the impugned order, the Commission has issued various directions against the Appellant as envisaged in Section 27 and also imposed penalty under Section 27(b) of the Act. Aggrieved by the order passed by the Commission, this Appeal has been filed.
Conclusion- Held that Commission has concluded that making access to the Play Store, for app developers, dependent on mandatory usage of GPBS for paid apps and in-app purchases constitutes an imposition of unfair L:umlilion on app developers. Thus, Google is found to be in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Act. We upheld the findings of the Commission with regard to violation of provisions of Section 4(2)(a)(i) and 4(2)(e).We, thus, are of the view that conclusion recorded in paragraph 392.1 cannot be faulted.
