Google became the first company to reach a settlement under the new CCI rules of 2023 in the Smart TV antitrust case

Google has proposed to settle its Smart TV antitrust case with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), LiveMint reported, citing sources. This will make Google the first company to benefit from the Competition Commission of India (Settlement) Rules, 2023.

Regulations introduced in March 2023 allow companies to settle accounts with the Commission after it considers the level of extended cooperation, the nature of the disclosures made by the settlement applicant and the settlement proposal. The Commission may also apply a settlement discount and reduce its amount to 15% of the original penalty amount.

What was the investigation about?

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

The investigation was initiated following a case brought 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 makers such as Xiaomi and TCL. These deals allegedly allowed Google to tie its Android TV operating system to the Play Store, forcing manufacturers to pre-install it on the TV. The agreement allegedly prevents OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) from producing and selling Smart TVs running on a competing Android operating system (such as Amazon’s FireOS) and from producing their own forked Android operating systems. SmartTV manufacturers were also required to pre-install the Play Store or Android TV operating system on all devices in their offer, including smartphones and smart home devices.

Google also denied the use of the Play Store to TVs running the forked Android operating system and ordered manufacturers to install the entire suite of Google apps, even if they only want to install a specific app, such as the Play Store.

The lawsuit alleged that Google violated the Competition Act and imposed unfair terms, creating a barrier to entry, and actively caused the restriction of further scientific and technological research and development.

Google’s counterarguments

Google has indicated that it is making the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) license available to any third-party developer. This does not obligate developers to install proprietary apps, the app store, or Google services. The CCI, however, argued that while Google makes AOSP available to anyone, the license does not grant developers the right to distribute Google’s proprietary applications 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 contracts.

The CCI also disagreed with Google’s argument that app stores such as the Play Store are less important for Smart TV users compared to smartphone or tablet users. Google urged the CCI not to equate them with each other.