Chennai: A temporary injunction from the Madras High Court prevents Google from removing Matrimony.com and 13 other digital businesses from its Play Store, including Bharat Matrimony, Shaadi.com, and Unacademy. The interim injunction was granted by a bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu during the concluding arguments on a series of appeals brought by Matrimony and others to overturn a single judge’s decision granting them relief.
Out of 16, 14 pleas from Indian startups and tech companies which includes Bharat Matrimony, Shaadi.com and Unacademy, against Google’s app billing policy had been dismissed by a single-judge of Madras High Court on August 8.
While rejecting the petition, the single judge Justice S Sounthar said that the issue fell under the jurisdiction of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and that the remedy available under the Competition Act was much more comprehensive than that available before a civil court.
The rest of the two petitions that challenge Google’s new billing system were filed by Disney+Hotstar and Testbook.
Senior Counsel P Chidambram, who appeared for Matrimony.com, said that the division bench that the single-judge had not cited judgments or law to hold that the digital firms could not seek relief before a civil court.
“By this argument, I can’t file a suit against a bank because the RBI is the authority. That is not the case. Suits are filed against banks every day. It will not take away my right to sue. To the extent that the CCI can grant relief, the jurisdiction of the civil courts is ousted. But for those reliefs that cannot be granted by the CCI, the jurisdiction of the civil court is not ousted,” he said.
Before, it was compulsory that all app developers must use Google Play Billing System (GPBS) for all transactions, including paid app downloads and in-app purchases. The app developers were charged a commission ranging between 15 to 30% for the services that Google offered.
Now, with the new billing system, users are allowed to opt for “an alternative billing” option besides GPBS. The new system allows app developers to use third party billing systems but need to pay a service fee of 11 to 26%.
Matrimony and the other app developers have opposed this fee before the High Court.
The Court will hear further arguments on August 23.
Senior Advocates P Chidambaram, Sriram Panchu, Satish Parasaran, Srinath Sridevan and R Venkat Raman and advocates Abir Roy, Anirudh B. Menon, SK Hari Narayanan, Sachin Menon, Vivek Pandey, Aman Shankar, Sukanya Viswanathan of Tatva Legal and Sarvada Legal appeared for the appellants app developers.
