Integration Of 'Google Meet' With Gmail Abuse Of Dominant Position : Law Student's Plea Before CCI

The Competition Commission of India has issued on a complaint filed by a law student alleging that Google has abused its dominant position by integrating it Video Conferencing app 'Google Meet' with Google Mail(Gmail).

The CCI has asked Google LLC and Google India Digital Services Ltd to respond within four weeks to the complaint filed by Baglekar Akash Kumar, 5th-year law student of Osmania University College of Law, Hyderabad.

According to Kumar, the act of the integration of Google Meet into the Google Gmail is a contravention of Section 4(2)(e) of the Competition Act, 2002.

It is stated that Gmail enjoys dominant position in the market of e-mail services and is a pre-installed app in most smartphones.

Due to the onset of COVID-19, most meetings and conferences are happening virtually. Google has used its dominant position in e-mail services to enter another relevant market of videoconferencing, alleges Kumar.

This, according to him, is a violation of Section 4(2)(e) of the Act.

Section 4(2)(e) of the Act provides that there shall be an abuse of a dominant position if the dominant enterprise uses its dominant position in one relevant market to enter or protect another relevant market.

The competition watchdog has granted four weeks time to Google to respond to the allegations.

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