UPDATE3: Russian court rejects Google’s appeal against antitrust decision

(Adds amount of possible new fine in paragraph 6)

MOSCOW, Aug 17 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal has rejected Google’s complaint against a lower court’s decision that supported the antimonopoly service in finding the U.S. giant guilty of abusing its dominance on the market of preinstalled application stores, according to court documents, seen by PRIME on Wednesday.

“The (lower) court’s decision will stay unchanged, and the appeal will not be satisfied,” the documents read.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service said on Tuesday that it did not find a compromise with Google, which it earlier fined with 438 million rubles. The company must pay the penalty within 60 days.

“We’re sure that fulfilment of the order will create fair conditions for effective competition on the fast-growing market of mobile applications,” Yelena Zayeva, director of the antitrust service’s IT regulation department, said.

The higher court confirmed the legality of the service’s decision. The order must be duly respected by Google in full.

Zayeva said that a new administrative fine, varying from 300,000 to 500,000 rubles, threatens Google if it fails to fulfill the service’s order within eight days. The service wants the company to eliminate violations of law by revising contracts with manufacturers of devices to allow other market players to install their programs.

“Google has eight days to follow the order of the Federal Antimonopoly Service from the moment of preparation of the court’s decision in full,” she said.

The antitrust case was initiated by Yandex, Google’s main rival on the local search market.

(63.9514 rubles – U.S. $1)

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