Jahanvi Agarwal
On Wednesday, i.e., July 19, 2023, Google claimed that an Indian court’s order prohibiting it from taking Disney’s streaming service out of the country’s app store was just temporary.
According to the American tech giant, a 4% in-app fee will be in effect while the legal process is ongoing.
The Madras High Court ruled in an interim order that Google cannot eliminate the Disney+ Hotstar streaming app from its official app store. A 4% commission on downloads made through the Play Store has also been requested from Novi Digital by Google.
Google contended that:
“The order is interim in nature, and the temporary 4% figure is simply a fee that the developer will pay to Google each month while these legal proceedings play out.”
On Monday i.e.,17th July 2023, Novi Digital, the fifteenth company to contest the Google Play Store’s new billing method, moved to the High Court.
Prior to this, the new billing policy of Google had been contested by Matrimony.com, People Interactive, Info Edge India, Arha Media and Broadcasting, Primetrace Technologies, Cold Brew Tech, Mebigo Labs, Crescere Technologies, Verve Mobile, Catchup Technologies, Sorting Hat Technologies, Alt Digital Media Entertainment, Nasadiya Technologies, and Ananda Vikatan Digital.
Disney’s lawsuit is the most recent and well-publicized attempt to overturn Google’s decision to charge an 11-26% “service fee” on in-app purchases made in India.
After an antitrust ruling revoked Google’s prior 15–30% charge and ordered Google to allow third-party payments, it implemented the same. Businesses claim that Google’s new service charge structure is merely a disguised version of its prior approach.
Case Name: Novi Digital Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. vs. Google LLC & Ors.
Diary Number: 3577/2023
Bench: Justice PT Asha