Google Set to Be the First Company to Settle Under CCI’s New 2023 Regulations in Smart TV Antitrust Case

Google has reportedly offered to settle its Smart TV antitrust case with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), LiveMint reported, citing sources. This would make Google the first enterprise to benefit from the Competition Commission of India (Settlement) Regulations, 2023.

The regulations introduced in March 2023 allow companies to settle under the Commission after it considers the level of cooperation extended, the nature of disclosure made by the settlement applicant, and the settlement proposal. The Commission may also apply a settlement discount and reduce the amount to 15% of the original amount fined.

What was the investigation about?

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered an investigation into Google over its Android TV operating system (OS) used in smart TVs, in 2020.

The investigation was brought on by a case filed by antitrust lawyers Kshitiz Arya and Purushottam Anand in May 2020. They alleged that Google was abusing its dominant position and entering into anti-competitive agreements with smart TV manufacturers like Xiaomi and TCL. These agreements allegedly allowed Google to bundle the Android TV operating system with the Play Store, forcing manufacturers to preinstall it on the TV. The Agreement also allegedly prevents OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) from making and selling smart TVs operating on a competing Android operating system (such as Amazon’s FireOS) and manufacturing their own forked Android operating systems. SmartTV manufacturers were also obliged to pre-install Play Store or Android TV OS to all the devices in their portfolio, including smartphones and smart home devices.

Google also denied Play Store to TVs operating on a forked Android operating system beside its own and mandated that manufacturers install the entire suite of Google apps even if they only wish to install a particular app like Play Store.

The lawsuit that Google violated the Competition Act and imposed unfair conditions by creating a barrier to entry into the market, and actively resulted in limiting further research and scientific/technical development.

Google’s counterarguments

Google pointed out that it makes the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) license available to any third-party developer. This does not oblige developers to install proprietary Google apps, app store, or services. However, the CCI considers that although Google makes AOSP available to anyone, the license does not grant developers the right to distribute Google’s proprietary apps such as Play Store, YouTube, etc. It does not grant manufacturers the right to use the Android logo and other Android-related trademarks. To obtain these rights, Google requires manufacturers to sign agreements.

The CCI also disagreed with Google’s argument that app stores like Play Store are less important to smart TV users compared to smartphone or tablet users. Google insists the CCI to not equate them to each other.