India's Supreme Court on January 17 refused to grant Google a stay in the antitrust order issued by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which requires the company to make changes to its Android operating system, LiveLaw reported. At the hearing, CCI's counsel suggested that Google is treating Indian consumers differently from European consumers, to which the court asked Google to clarify if the company will adopt the same policies for India as it has done in Europe. "Are you then willing to place [the] same regime which has been put into place in Europe? You reflect on this and come back," the court remarked, scheduling the matter for its next hearing on January 18. The court was hearing Google’s appeal against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order dated January 3, which refused to grant interim relief from the CCI order. Why does this matter: The CCI order requires Google to make significant changes to its Android policies by January 19, which is only two days away. Failure to get a stay from the Supreme Court will deal a huge blow to Google. More importantly, Supreme Court's suggestion that Google should be ready to implement the same policies it has in Europe in India could be a setback for the company as it has made significant compromises in Europe to both Android and Play Store policies to appease the regulators there. What did CCI submit to the Supreme Court? Google adopting different standards in Europe and India: CCI told the…
