The main distributor of lottery tickets in Russia, TK Center, part of S8 Capital, went to court to demand the return of its official Stoloto application to the Google Play store. It was unilaterally removed from there. The case will be a significant precedent for all service developers facing similar difficulties, said Elena Gladysheva. The lawyer commented for Kommersant and Forbes on whether it is a common problem when Google refuses to include an application from Russian companies. Is it easy to remove pirated apps from Google in pre-trial order? What are Google's rules for including applications in the Store and why could Google refuse to include Stoloto?

The lawyer believes: "The Google's policy regarding the placement of applications is quite strict, the company is careful to ensure that the placement of the application complies with all the legal conditions in the countries for which such an application will be available.

As a rule, Google refuses to include an application in the Google Play Market if it violates any of the rules for application developers placed in the public domain, which by their legal nature are a contract of adhesion (that is, the provisions of such rules cannot be changed at the initiative of the adhering party).

The authors of apps containing any inappropriate content that violates the rights and legitimate interests of a group of people, as well as content related to gambling, including lotteries, are denied first of all in the Google Play Market.

In order to place an app that allows you to buy lottery tickets, such as Stoloto, it is necessary to comply with all the rules and restrictions established by applicable law and Google Play, including that the developer must have an appropriate license, the app must not be accessible to minors, must be distributed free of charge and not use the function of paying for content (lottery tickets) through Google Play.

Given the policy of Google Play, the Market does not contain pirated applications (perhaps with rare exceptions). At the same time, the fact of placing pirated applications must be proved by the right holder (the developer of a corresponding application), respectively, applications are not pirated until proven otherwise. For example, there are no pirated Stoloto applications in the store, but there are applications that accumulate information about statistics of draws, combinations-winners, that is, in fact, are auxiliary for participants of Stoloto lotteries. Therefore, the issue of removing pirated applications in pre-trial proceedings, most likely, is usually resolved in favor of the developers.

We do not yet see the actual basis for the claims - the lawsuit has not yet been accepted for production, so third-party participants only have to monitor the progress of the case. In our opinion, Stoloto's chances of success depend directly on the evidence base: if the company manages to prove that all the requirements set forth by the rules for Google Play app developers were met when applying for the placement of an application, and the refusal is only formal, then the victory of Stoloto will become a significant precedent for all app developers experiencing similar difficulties with placing their content in the Google Play Market,” - notes Elena Gladysheva.

Read more in the Forbes article: https://www.forbes.ru/tekhnologii/447113-rossijskaa-loterejnaa-kompania-osporit-v-sude-udalenie-prilozenia-iz-google-play

Kommersant:  https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5089247