Madras High Court temporarily restrains Google from delisting Matrimony, 13 others from Play Store

The Madras High Court on Friday temporarily restrained Google from delisting Matrimony.com and 13 other digital companies from its Play Store..A bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice PD Audikesavalu granted the interim injunction while hearing the final arguments on a batch of appeals filed by Matrimony and others challenging a single-judge’s order denying them relief..On August 8, a single-judge of Madras High Court had dismissed 14 of the 16 pleas from Indian startups and tech companies, including Bharat Matrimony, Shaadi.com and Unacademy, against Google's app billing policy.While dismissing the petitions, the single judge Justice S Sounthar had held 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 two remaining petitions that challenge the new billing system are those filed by Disney+ Hotstar and Testbook..Senior Counsel P Chidambram, who appeared for Matrimony.com, told 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 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..Earlier, Google required all app developers to use its Google Play Billing System (GPBS) for all transactions, including paid app downloads and in-app purchases. App developers were charged a commission between 15 to 30 per cent for the services that Google offered.Google’s new billing system allows users to opt for "an alternative billing" option besides GPBS. It allows app developers to use third party billing systems, but imposes a service fee of 11 to 26 per cent.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.