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Russia: Watchdog discussing out of court settlement with Google

By  |  June 8, 2016

Russia’s state competition watchdog FAS is discussing with Alphabet Inc’s Google an out of court settlement, Interfax news agency on Wednesday quoted a deputy FAS head as saying.

“I think Google may request extra time [for preparation to court session – TASS] in order to be prepared better but probably in order to make settlement with us,” Artemyev said.

FAS is ready to reduce the fine if Google recognizes violation and fulfils the improvement notice, Artemyev said. At the same time, the company may be thinking about the settlement agreement, the head of FAS said.

“If it is so, then this is a good option,” he added.

The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal postponed consideration of the case between FAS and Google until June 30 and made a decision to hold a closed trial.

FAS ruled last September that Google had broken the law by requiring pre-installation of certain applications on mobile devices running on its Android operating system, following a complaint by Russia’s Yandex.

Full Content: Tass

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