The third is not superfluous: Yandex wants to participate in the dispute between Google and FAS as a third party

    Representatives of Yandex are asking to include the company in a lawsuit between Google and the Federal Antimonopoly Service ( FAS ) as a third party. They sent a corresponding application to the Moscow Arbitration Court.

    From the statement it follows that Yandex intends to become a party to the case, not declaring independent claims on the subject of the dispute. But a third party may appear in the case on the side of the plaintiff or defendant.

    Yandex wants to participate in the consideration of this case, to protect its interests, to provide explanations on evidence that confirms "Google’s illegal actions that violated our rights and interests," Asya Melkumova, a Yandex spokeswoman, explained. According to her, Yandex was the sole applicant in the FAS case, and the evidence and numerous explanations presented by the Russian company concerned all the material circumstances of the case and were examined in detail during the trial.

    The European Commission has been investigating the Google Android case since 2013 on the basis of a complaint from the Fair Search alliance , which unites Microsoft , Nokia , Oracle , Expedia ,TripAdvisor and others. In March 2015, Megamind wrote that Fair Search took the side of Yandex in a conflict with Google.

    On November 13, it became known that in April 2015, Yandex submitted its own application to the European Commission, becoming the prosecutor in the Google case. Since July 2014, the Russian company has collaborated with the European regulator as a witness.

    In late December, the Moscow OFAS Commission of Russia charged Google’s Russian representative office with a violation of the Advertising Law because of an ad on Google Adwords offering to purchase a driver’s license, Megamind reported . The FAS conducted an audit based on a user’s complaint and, based on the results of its investigation, found Google LLC to be in violation of clause 1 of Article 7 of the Act on Advertising.

    On September 14, the Federal Antimonopoly Service recognized Google as an antitrust violation.

    FAS believes that Google forces manufacturers of mobile devices to preinstall applications from the Google Mobile Services ( GMS ) package , to place icons of these applications on the first screen of a mobile device. The company also requires that you select the default Google search as a condition for installing the Google Play store. This store, in turn, is necessary for the operation of the Android operating system, also owned by Google.

    According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, the violator of the law “On Protection of Competition” is facing a so-called negotiable fine. The amount of the fine may be 7% of the turnover of the Google Play application online store in Russia. This was announced by the head of the FAS Igor Artemyev.

    FAS demanded that Google eliminate the violation of the Law on Protection of Competition by November 18. On November 9, Megamind wrote that the Federal Antimonopoly Service went towards Google and extended the period for a month during which the company must eliminate the violation of the law.

    However, the company filed a complaint against the FAS decision, which the Moscow Arbitration Court will consider only on January 25. Two legal entities filed claims to the FAS - the American Google Inc and the European Google Ireland (payments from the Google Play app store go through it). They ask the court to cancel the FAS decision regarding Google.

    Yandex was the complainant in this case and managed to win the FAS complaint, said Vitaly Dianov , head of antitrust practice at Goltsblat BLP . It is in his interests to obtain the status of a third party and to do everything in his power so that this decision can stand in court. The court is highly likely to satisfy the request of Yandex, especially if the FAS supports the entry of Yandex into the process, the lawyer summarizes.

    Also popular now: