Appeal Court supported FAS in a dispute with “Google”
On 17 August 2016, the 9th Arbitration Appeal Court pronounced legitimacy and reasonableness of the decision of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) on a case against “Google” abusing dominance on the market of preset application stores in Android Operation System, localized for the Russian Federation.
The case was opened upon a complaint from “Yandex”. Investigating the case, the FAS Commission established that “Google” was giving Google Play applications stores to mobile devices vendors to be preset on devices controlled by Android OS that were intended for sale in the Russian Federation. The conditions for offering the applications stores included mandatory preset of Google applications and the search system and their mandatory placement on the priority positions on the main device screen.
Such actions by “Google” resulted on banning preset applications from other vendors.
On 18 September 2015, FAS found that “Google Inc.”, “Google Ireland Ltd.” violated the antimonopoly law by abusing dominance (Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”) and issued a determination to eliminate the violation by 18 November 2015. The company, however, disagreed with the FAS decision and filed a lawsuit to Arbitration Court.
The Court of First Instance and Appeal Court fully supported FAS decision.
“The Appeal Court upheld the judgment of the Court of First Instance, confirming legitimacy of FAS decision and determination. “Google” now must execute the determination in full within the designated period. We are confident that executing the determination will create fair conditions for efficient competition on the fast-growing market of mobile applications”, emphasized the Head of FAS Department for Regulating Communications and Information Technologies, Elena Zaeva.