An Indian court rejected Google’s bid to reverse the Competition Commission’s decision finding it guilty of using Android to dominate parts of the market, after the company argued the country copied large parts of a European Commission ruling in 2018.

Reuters reported the tribunal had declined a request by the company to block the ruling and quash a fine of $161 million, stating it did not see any reason to pass any interim order given the “voluminous” nature of the appeal.

Earlier this week, Google had argued CCI’s investigations unit had copied and pasted “extensively” from the EC’s decision five years ago, “deploying evidence from Europe that was not examined in India”.

Google claims there “are more than 50 instances of copy pasting” in India’s ruling, in some cases “word for word” with the EC’s order.

Google added it had appealed India’s decision because it presents “a major setback” for India users and businesses.

CCI has not yet responded to the copying allegations.

Landmark fine
CCI hit Google with the fine in October 2022 following a probe spanning several years, accusing the company of a range of anti-competitive breaches related to its Android OS.

It ordered Google to change its practices after finding it had abused its dominant position by mandating device manufacturers to install its entire Google Mobile Suite without giving vendors the chance to opt out. The crux of the CCI’s allegations lied in Google exploiting its dominance in online search and its app store.

Google argues India’s decision and the remedies ordered are even more extreme than those imposed by the EC in 2018, a probe which saw Google hit with a landmark €4.1 billion fine over similar dominance claims.

Google is currently embroiled in a legal fight to have the EC fine annulled, most recently lodging an appeal with the European Court of Justice.