By Foo Yun Chee

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Alphabet (NASDAQ:) unit Google on Monday criticised EU antitrust regulators for ignoring rival Apple (NASDAQ:) as it launched a bid to get Europe’s second-highest court to annul a record 4.34-billion euro ($5.1 billion) fine related to its Android operating system.

Android has not been an obstacle to rivals or harmed users. This was the message that representatives from Google gave to a panel made up of five judges of the General Court, Luxembourg, at the beginning of a five day hearing.

Google was fined by the European Commission in 2018 for its use of Android from 2011 to defeat rivals, and cement its supremacy in general internet searches.

Matthew Pickford, Google’s attorney, stated that the Commission had not seen the true competitive dynamics in the industry between Apple and Android.

He stated that the Commission had mistakenly deemed Google dominant in the mobile OS and apps stores by limiting its definitions and downplaying Apple’s powerful constraint. However, it has been a disruptive force in the market.

Pickford stated that Android was “an exceptional success story about the power and effectiveness of competition in action.”

Nicholas Khan, a Commission lawyer dismissed Apple’s part due to its smaller market share than Android.

It doesn’t make things any easier, bringing Apple in to the mix does not change anything. The court heard that Apple and Google are pursuing different business models.

Google’s conduct denies any chance for competition,” he stated, citing agreements that required phone manufacturers to preinstall Google Search and Chrome browser on Android devices. He also mentioned payments made to Google Search to be pre-installed only.

Android is free to device manufacturers and can be found on around 80% of all smartphones in the world. Because of Android’s dominant market position, this case is one of three EU cases against Google. Over 8 billion Euros worth of EU antitrust fines have been imposed on Google over the course of the past decade.

German phone manufacturer Gigaset Communications GmbH supports Google and claims its success is due to Android’s open platform. It also laments the impact that the Commission’s decision has on its business.

“The licence fee for the Play Store that Google now charges as a result of the contested decision represents a significant portion of the price of Gigaset’s smartphones aimed at price-sensitive consumers,” its lawyer Jean-François Bellis told the court.

FairSearch, the lobbying group that brought about the Commission’s case against Google, had a harsh assessment of Google’s dealings with smartphone makers.

Google’s bait and switch approach is a familiar one. “Google hooked them” on an allegedly free and open-source operating platform, which was subsistered by the search monopoly. But it then shut the system down to competition via the web of restrictions,” Thomas Vinje (Google’s lawyer) told the court.

The verdict is expected to be rendered next year. T-604/18 Google vs European Commission.

($1 = 0.8537 euros)