Google sues India's antitrust watchdog over leaked report - It has a good case

Date:
Fri, 24 Sep 2021 04:46:26 +0000

Description:
Google has moved the Delhi High Court against the Competition Commission of India for allegedly leaking a report of its probe into the company to the media. The report had said that Google was abusing its dominant position of Android in India to hurt local competitors.

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When India's antitrust watchdog's, the Competition Commission of India's (CCI), probe report that prima facie found that Google was abusing its dominant position in Android to hurt local tech competitors, there were some raised eyebrows in the media circles.

Not that investigation reports are never leaked in the media before. But in this case it was different. For, two of the three of the petitioners against Google were actually in employment of the CCI, which was investigating the case. The third petitioner was a former intern at CCI.

Though the three were said to have filed the complaint in their private capacity, there was something amiss.

And when the probe report that found fault with Google made its way to
India's top newspaper and an international news agency, things really came to a head.

And no wonder, Google has decided to take the CCI to the court.

The case and the probe against Google goes back to 2019, and is based on a complaint lodged by two Indian antitrust research associates in the CCI (Umar Javeed and Sukarma Thapar) and a law student (Aaqib Javeed). Google seeks to raise the bar on its Wear OS 3 - also sets a timeline Report claims Google is building in-house chips for Chromebooks, tablets It is a breach of
confidence, says Google

Google is specifically protesting the breach of confidence which impairs its ability to defend itself. We are deeply concerned that the Director Generals Report, which contains our confidential information in an ongoing case, was leaked to the media while in the CCIs custody, a Google spokesperson said yesterday.

The CCI Director General's report needs to be reviewed by the antitrust
body's seniors before it becomes an 'official order'. Leaking the report when the final decision has not been made is prejudicial to its interest, Google said.

Protecting confidential information is fundamental to any governmental investigation, and we are pursuing our legal right to seek redress and
prevent any further unlawful disclosures.

We cooperated fully and maintained confidentiality throughout the investigative process, and we hope and expect the same level of confidentiality from the institutions we engage with, it added.

According to the leaked report, Google appeared to have leveraged its Android dominance to reduce device makers ability to opt for alternative versions of its mobile operating system and force them to pre-install Google apps.

Its 750-page report found the mandatory pre-installation of apps amounts to imposition of unfair condition on the device manufacturers. Flipkart Big Billion Days : New launches and expected deals of tech products Want to know about the latest happenings in tech?FollowTechRadar Indiaon Twitter ,
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/google-sues-indias-antitrust-watchdog-over-leak ed-report-it-has-a-good-case/


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