Google Faces Up To $5 Billion Fine From Competition Commission of India

An anonymous reader writes "Google is facing investigation by the Competition Commission of India and potentially faces fines up to 10% of its three-year average turnover. While Google has settled anti-trust cases in the U.S. and the European Union, India's competition regime does not have provisions for settlement process." From the Times of India article linked: "The complaint against Google, also one of the world's most valued company, was first filed by advocacy group CUTS International way back in late 2011. Later, matrimonial website matrimony.com also filed a complaint. Referring to Google's settlement with the European Commission, matrimony.com counsel Ferida Satarawala said: 'Google's unfair use of trademarks as well as its retaliatory conduct are not specifically addressed in the European settlement and are distinct theories of harm being pursued by the CCI. Therefore, this settlement is unlikely to address CCI's concerns in our case.'"

Comments

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

I still can't figure out what they did

[Overzeetop]

I read the entire fine article, and I'm still at a loss. What was the specific harm which the Indian government is trying to correct?

Re:I still can't figure out what they did

[tomhath]

It's not the Indian government. The complaint was filed by an organization called CUTS, whose mission is:

Pursuing economic equity and social justice within and across borders by persuading governments and empowering people

In other words, their goal is wealth transfer from rich to poor countries. Whether Google did anything wrong isn't the point; they're trying to use the Indian government to get some of Google's money.

Pull out

[nurb432]

Google can just pull out, refuse any ads from any company based in India. Its time for Google to start using the power they have.

Lets see how long it takes for the Indiana government's mind to change.