Google Will struggle Russian Antitrust “No obligatory Apps” Ruling

Google pushes back on “unfounded” choice by means of Russian regulators.

Greg Sterling on November 17, 2015

in the hunt for to keep away from a potential “precedent” that could be emulated somewhere else, Google will challenge the Russian antitrust agency’s choice that it violated Russian competition law with its Android app principles. Yandex complained that Google used to be violating Russian competition legislation by means of requiring pre-put in or default Google apps on Android.

In late September, Russian regulators agreed with Yandex and handed down their ruling giving Google unless November 18 to amend its contracts to eliminate app pre-installation necessities. Now it appears that time limit has been extended to December 18.

Reuters prices Google’s Russian blog saying, “We intend to contest this determination and explain in court docket why we believe it unfounded.” This position is in line with a more aggressive method Google is taking in Europe in contesting the european fee’s commentary of Objections on purchasing Search.

a few years ago it regarded that Google may be capable of negotiate its approach out of these antitrust disputes but that now not seems possible. therefore, Google is being compelled to challenge skeptical and even hostile regulators in a variety of jurisdictions around the world.

in the contemporary past i’ve asserted that the Russian “no obligatory apps” resolution is a likely version for regulators in other nations investigating Android. In response Google brought up to me that in 2013 the South Korean equivalent of the united states honest exchange commission dropped an awfully an identical Android antitrust case in opposition to the company.

if so the complaining events NHN Corp. and Daum held higher markets shares in South Korea than Google. hence it’s unclear which instance is extra persuasive: Russia’s or South Korea’s. Regardless, it’s slightly clear that the european fee might be more inclined to look to Russia than South Korea through analogy.

in regards to the author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a non-public blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer conduct. he’s additionally VP of technique and Insights for the native Search affiliation. practice him on Twitter or find him at Google+.