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Samsung embroiled in India antitrust probe of Amazon ( AMZN ),

Flipkart

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Asks court to quash evidences seized from three employees

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Antitrust probe found breaches of competition law

By Arpan Chaturvedi and Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Samsung has accused

India's competition watchdog of unlawfully detaining its

employees and seizing data in a raid carried out in connection

with an antitrust investigation on Amazon ( AMZN ) and Walmart's ( WMT )

Flipkart, a legal filing shows.

Samsung is embroiled in the Competition Commission of

India's (CCI) investigation that in August concluded that the

South Korean giant and other smartphone companies broke

anti-trust laws by colluding with Amazon ( AMZN ) and Flipkart

to exclusively launch products online.

Samsung's Oct. 11 filing in the High Court in northern city

of Chandigarh seeks to quash the investigation findings related

to conduct of the company, arguing the CCI had illegally seized

material from its employees during a 2022 raid at one of

Amazon's ( AMZN ) vendors.

Three Samsung employees were present in the vicinity of the

search when the watchdog's officials detained them, seized their

phones and copied all the confidential and privileged data, the

company said in its 32-page filing, which hasn't been made

public.

"The entire search exercise undertaken ... is patently

illegal and any material collected thereunder should not be

relied upon and should be promptly returned," the Indian unit of

South Korea's Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ) wrote.

The CCI "should be prohibited from using or relying upon the

data and information unlawfully collected," it added.

Samsung and the CCI did not respond to Reuters queries.

Samsung has obtained an injunction from the High Court that

has put on hold the CCI proceedings, but the court has not yet

ruled on its requests to return the data seized and to not allow

the commission to rely on it.

The CCI has challenged Samsung and 22 other parties that

have won similar injunctions from high courts across India, and

last week asked the Supreme Court to hear all challenges

together, saying the companies were trying to scuttle the

investigation.

The CCI investigation had found that Amazon ( AMZN ) and Flipkart

both breached competition laws by favouring select sellers on

their platforms. Amazon ( AMZN ) and Flipkart have repeatedly denied

wrongdoing, even as brick-and-mortar retailers continue to

complain about their deep discounting and other practices.

In its court filing Samsung also asserted that it was

wrongly found to have breached competition laws in collusion

with Amazon ( AMZN ) and Flipkart, even though it had been cooperating

with the watchdog and providing information only as a

third-party in the case.

The inclusion of smartphone makers in the Amazon ( AMZN ) and

Flipkart investigation could increase legal and compliance

headaches for the likes of Samsung.

In the August investigation reports, the CCI noted that

Samsung was involved in the practice of exclusive phone launches

on Amazon ( AMZN ) and Flipkart, saying "exclusivity in business is

anathema" and against free and fair competition.

According to Counterpoint Research Samsung is one of India's

biggest smartphone player with a 14% market share. Datum

Intelligence estimates that 50% of phone sales were online last

year, up from 14.5% in 2013.