FAS recognized Google as a violator of antitrust laws



    It is strange that there is no this news, although bobuk quickly wrote about the appeal to the FAS .

    The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) found Google to be guilty of violating the Law on Protection of Competition.

    Now Google faces a fine of 1 to 15 percent of the company's revenue in the market.

    Yandex, on the complaint of which the antitrust trial was launched, reacted positively to the recognition of the violation by Google. “Russia is the first jurisdiction to officially recognize these practices [in the field of abuse of a dominant position in the application store market] as uncompetitive. We believe that the FAS decision will restore competition in the market, ”commented Asya Melkumova, spokeswoman for the company.

    Let me remind you that Yandex on February 18 submitted to FAS a request to check Google for violation of the antitrust laws of Russia. Yandex believes that an American competitor needs to separate the Android operating system from Google search and other services. Otherwise, the principle of free competition on the Android smartphone market is violated, where Google may put pressure on manufacturers who want to use their Android firmware versions.

    September 28 will be ready the operative part of the decision of the FAS to recognize Google as a violation of antitrust laws. It will set out instructions to end the abuse of a dominant position by the company.

    PSYandex shares rose 6.45 percent to 809 rubles apiece at the close of trading on the MICEX stock exchange compared to the previous day, which occurred amid recognition of the Russian FAS by Google as a violator of antitrust laws.

    UPD: a comment from Crandel about Android licensing types to evaluate Yandex’s position on this issue:
    - Pure Android, no Google services, no licenses and contracts with Google. Take and use as you wish;

    - Android with Google services (GMS-license), there is a Play Store app store and other programs. GMS license is signed. There are no restrictions and prohibitions on installing other services and programs, at least on the main screen, at least where. The only requirement is to leave Google services in certain places. But the iron producer can put as many programs as he wants, that's his right. There are no restrictions.

    - The third option is commercial. If the manufacturer wants to also receive the separation of advertising revenue from Google, then he signs a separate contract in which this is stipulated. In this and only in this case, the use of other services that compete is not allowed. In this case, Google acts as a seller of services, and not as an OS provider. That is, in this example, Yandex can also negotiate with companies just like Google, they compete on equal terms.

    UPD 2: comments from Yandex by Anton Volnukhin ( anton ) on this subject, in order to look at the situation from the other side:
    “The actions that were the subject of consideration in the FAS include, firstly, linking applications from GMS to the Google Play store, secondly, the requirement to pre-set Google search by default, and thirdly, the requirement to preferentially place Google application icons on the first screen . However, obtaining Google Play was possible only if each of these conditions was met. In addition, the course of the case confirmed the existence of agreements banning manufacturers from pre-installing competitors' applications - in particular, it does not deny that Yandex is explicitly specified in such agreements.

    The pre-installation of our search and browser was extremely difficult on the devices of almost all device manufacturers on the Android operating system. In relation to Fly, Explay and Prestigio, apparently, there was a complete ban on the preinstallation of any Yandex applications and services. Google does not deny that such bans could also be imposed for some other device manufacturers.

    We believe that the FAS decision will restore competition in the market. ”

    Also popular now: