Google launched a bid to annul a €4.3 billion fine issued by the European Commission (EC) related to its Android operating system in 2018, arguing the regulator ignored the market power held by rival Apple at the time, Reuters reported.

Legal representatives from Google reportedly told a panel of five judges at a court in Luxembourg that Android was an “exceptional success story of power and competition in action”, opposing the EC’s judgement it had abused the dominant position of the platform.

Following a three-year investigation, the EC ruled Google was guilty of shutting competitors out by forcing manufacturers to include its apps on devices and have them prominently positioned to gain access to other Google services such as the Play Store and content catalogue.

Shut its eyes
Google argued instead of harming competition it had done the opposite, while pointing the finger at rival Apple, which it described as “highly powerful”.

“The Commission shut its eyes to the real competitive dynamic in this industry, that between Apple and Android,” Google’s lawyer Matthew Pickford asserted.

He argued the EC had “mistakenly found Google to be dominant in mobile operating systems and app stores, when it was in fact a vigorous market disrupter”, and it had defined markets too narrowly which led to it downplaying the “potent constraint” imposed Apple.

Hitting back, the EC’s lawyer said bringing Apple into the picture didn’t change things, as the companies operated different models and its market share was smaller than that of Android.

A final verdict on the case is expected in 2022.