Based on an internal order, Reuters reported that the Competition Commission of India turned down Apple's (AAPL, Financial) plea to halt an inquiry report alleging the corporation violated competition laws. This ruling helps facilitate the continuation of the antitrust lawsuit to against the American technology behemoth.
The Indian antitrust agency decided in July that Apple had engaged anti-competitive behavior by abusing its dominating position in the app stores market for iOS. Apple refuted the claims, claiming that Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) Android system dominates the smartphone industry in India, hence Apple is a relatively smaller player there.
Following Apple's worries about the illegal sharing of its commercial secrets to Match Group (MTCH, Financial), which owns Tinder, the commission issued an unusual recall of its inquiry in August. The government generated fresh investigative reports following the recall.
Apple said in November that Indian non-profit Together We Fight Society (TWFS), the complainant in the case, had not followed instructions to verify the deletion of previous findings. According to the regulator's Nov. 13 internal decision, Apple asked for action against TWFS for non-compliance and aimed to stop the updated investigation report. The antitrust case is still in progress.
