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Court postpones trial of main case of FAS vs. Google to February 28

It was reported earlier Google lodged a cassation appeal to the Russian Supreme Court amid the dispute with FAS over Android antitrust charges

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The Arbitration Court of Moscow District postponed consideration of Google’s cassation complaint against the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) regarding prior decisions of courts in the Android case, FAS representative told reporters on Monday.

"The Arbitration Court of Moscow District postponed consideration of the case until February 28, 2017 in connection with the complaint filed by Google to the Russian Supreme Court against FAS ruling of December 23, 2016," the official said.

It was reported earlier Google lodged a cassation appeal to the Russian Supreme Court amid the dispute with FAS over Android antitrust charges, according to the court’s case files. The complaint was filed on January 24.

In September 2015, the Federal Antimonopoly Service ruled that Google Inc. and Google Ireland Ltd. had breached the competition protection law under the complaint of the Russian Internet company Yandex.

According to the regulator, Google obliged manufacturers of Android OS-based devices to pre-install its applications together with Android platform. FAS said that Google’s policy restricted installation of applications by other developers. Google did not agree with the ruling and appealed to the court.

On September 29, 2016 Google started notifying Russian users of the Android devices about the possibility of changing the search engine, deactivating pre-installed applications, installing third-party services (including third-party search engines and widgets, email, calendar, and other services) and changing position of application icons. Google noted it continues to work with FAS on technical execution of their orders.

Google lodged an appeal against the court judgement in favor of FAS regarding the case on abusing dominant position.

FAS imposed the fine for abuse of market dominating position in the amount of 438 mln rubles ($7.4 mln). The amount of the fine consists of 9% of company’s turnover on the Russian market in 2014 plus inflation.

Head of Russia’s antimonopoly regulator Igor Artemyev also said earlier that the US company was delaying performance of the regulator’s order by its lawsuits.

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