Madras High Court Dismisses Appeals By Indian Startups Against Google's New Billing Policy

The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed the appeals preferred by 13 Indian companies challenging Google's new billing policy. 

The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu, however, allowed an earlier interim protection against delisting to continue for 3 weeks, following which the protection would exhaust.

A detailed order copy is awaited.

In August last year, a single judge had dismissed 14 petitions by Indian startups challenging the new user choice billing system by Google. The single judge had observed that the matter falls within the jurisdiction of the Competition Commission of India and that the remedy available under the Competition Act is much more comprehensive than that available before a civil court. The court added that the pleas are barred by Section 61 of the Competition Act which expressly forbids civil courts from hearing any lawsuit or action that the Commission is authorized to decide.

During the hearing of the appeal, Senior Advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for the companies argued that the only remedy available before the Competition Commission was for a peer review and if dissatisfied, to approach the RBI. He had further submitted that the provision only provided for a fine of five lakh rupees which was a small amount for Google. 

Chidambaram had also argued that the Civil Courts jurisdiction was ousted only when an efficacious remedy was available but in the present case, the CCI could not provide an effective remedy and thus, the Civil courts jurisdiction was not ousted. He had also submitted that the companies were put to great difficulty since their refusal to comply with the new billing policy would result in them getting delisted and thus making them effectively dead in the e-market.

The startups argued that in 2020, Google made the use of the Google Play Billing System "GPBS" mandatory and exclusive for processing payments for downloading paid apps and In-App Purchases.

It was further submitted that the CCI by its order dated October 25, 2022, had directed Google not to restrict the app developers from using any third-party billing/payment processing services. It was submitted that after the CCI order, Google in an attempt to circumvent the order, permitted the app developers to use “Alternative Billing System/User Choice Billing” alongside and in addition to the GPBS.

The companies added that Google has been trying to take advantage of its monopoly in the Android platform and compelling app developers to agree to their payment policy by charging service fees at the rate of 11% and 26% in respect of payments made through the Alternate Billing System.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 29

Case Title: Info Edge (India) Ltd. v Google India Ltd and Others (batch cases)

Case No: OSA(CAD) 97/2023

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