Ouch.
Moscow’s Arbitration Court on Monday shot down Google’s appeal in an anti-monopoly case that found the tech giant guilty of using its dominant role in the market to force the installation its own applications on Android phones.
The appeals court said it “fully supported” the decision of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), which found Google guilty of violating the country’s anti-monopoly laws in September.
According to the FAS, Google ran afoul of Russian competition laws by mandating the installation of certain Google apps and its search engine and dictating their “priority” placement on the main screen of Android devices.
The FAS found Google’s requirements prevented the pre-installation of apps from competing producers.
Following its decision against the company, the FAS gave Google until November 18, 2015 to correct its infractions, but Google chose to appeal. Regulators said Google could face fines totaling of between one and 15 percent of its 2014 revenue in Russia and could be subject to more if violations continue.
To avoid further fines, Google will have to alter its contracts with device manufacturers to eliminate its “anticompetitive requirements,” the FAS said.
The case was originally brought to the attention of Russian regulators by Russian search engine and Google competitor Yandex.
In October, Microsoft announced it would replace Google with Yandex as the default homepage and search engine on devices running Windows 10 in Russia.
Yandex, however, has not been content with just the Russian ruling.
In November, the company decided to take its complaints against Google to the European Union (EU) for investigation.
At the time, Yandex said in a statement it believed Russia’s finding against Google to be “instructive, and [] a conclusion that can readily be adopted in other jurisdictions, including the EU.”
In addition to an EU probe, Google is also up against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which in September opened an investigation into similar allegations that Google prioritizes its own products over those of the competition.
Filed Under: Industry regulations
