The Madras High Court has reserved its verdict in the case filed by several Indian startups against Google’s billing policy and its decision to remove them from the Play Store. In April, firms such as Bharat Matrimony and Shaadi.com had approached the high court challenging Google’s billing policies and seeking to stop the tech giant from delisting them. Other startups including Unacademy, Kuku FM, TrulyMadly, QuackQuack, Aha, Stage, and Kutumb filed similar suits against Google around that time.
During the hearing, Google’s counsel argued that a commercial court cannot decide the payment amount that should be paid to the company per its billing policies. Even the Competition Commission of India as a regulator cannot do that, he added. The counsel further stated that Indian startups have a contract with Google Asia Pacific, which acts as their market provider under their agreement. Hence, Google LLC cannot participate in the lawsuit. The applicable Google authority is decided based on where the app will be distributed, and Google Asia Pacific serves that purpose.
Google argued that despite the startups’ complaints about its dominant 96% market share, they still earn significant profits from having their apps listed on the Play Store. As some of these companies are multi-billion-dollar entities, they cannot claim that their contract with Google is unjustifiable.
The startups, however, maintained that Google has the power to alter the contract under its new billing policies, regardless of whether the parties are equally strong. Courts have previously restricted a party’s decision when one party has chosen for both.
Previously, the judge had instructed the startups to submit a report to Google on their downloads in June. They were also ordered to pay a 4% commission to Google on the gross revenue generated via the Play Store that month. The judge also directed Google not to delist any companies that had filed a suit against it until a verdict was reached.
The Madras High Court’s verdict is expected soon, and it has garnered much attention from the Indian startup community. The outcome of this lawsuit may have far-reaching implications.
