Google: Madras HC gives ‘good and bad news’ to Google – Times of India

Google had sought relief from the Madras High Court in its ongoing battle against some startups in India over its billing practices. The court has both good and bad news for the search giant. First the good news, the court has asked startups to submit a report to Google on the total number of downloads they recorded in June, and directed them to pay a 4% commission to the search giant.
The ‘bad news’ is that the Madras High Court has directed Google not to delist any of the companies that have filed petitions against it from the company’s Play Store, extending an interim injunction. According to a report in Economic times, “Matrimony.com and Shaadi.com were given an unconditional stay but under the Jeevan Saathi order, Google had asked for them to report their monthly downloads and that they would be charged a 4% commission on that,” explained a person aware of the developments. “That order has been extended to all the other petitioners as well with a correction that it will not start from May but rather from June. So the downloads for June will have to be sent to Google by July 15.”
The report added that Google is expected to raise an invoice by July 20 and these companies will have to pay by July 25.
What is the ‘big fight’ all about
Some time back, Bharat Matrimony, Shaadi.com and some other companies had approached the high court challenging Google’s billing policies and seeking to stop the company from delisting them from the Google Play Store. Earlier this week more companies including Unacademy, Kuku FM, TrulyMadly and QuackQuack had reportedly separately moved the Madras High Court against Google. Later, three other companies — Aha, Stage and Kutumb — also filed petitions seeking relief. The court’s June 8 orders apply to all of these petitioners (companies).
Last month Google published a blog post saying that its Google Play’s payments policy is compliant with the Indian watchdog Competition Commission of India’s order and it is moving ahead with plans to enforce the policy in the country. “In 2020, we clarified the requirements of our Payments policy and developers in India have had considerable time to make the necessary changes to their apps. We respectfully followed the CCI’s October 2022 order, and in compliance with that order, we expanded user choice billing to all developers in India and updated our policy that went into effect starting April 26, 2023,” the company wrote in the blog post.
Google further added that the service fee it accrues from developers allows it to fund the large investments it has made for the growth of India’s app ecosystem. The company asserted that its fees — 15% or lower for most developers — is the lowest of any major app store and a 4% reduction in that fee for those who implement an alternative billing system “fairly reflect that Google Play’s billing system has not been used.”