Microsoft has had a long history dealing with antitrust cases. As a result, they have learned the hard way in how to operate their business within the limits of the law. Now, Microsoft intends to take the battle against Google by filing an antitrust complaint on Thursday in the EU.
According to The New York Times, Microsoft will join a number of companies in the EU alleging that Google’s search engine has been unfairly promoting Google’s own products over its competitors. Search engines are supposed to provide unbiased results without artificially favoring one product over another.
Microsoft’s complaint against Google “includes claims of anticompetitive practices by Google in search, online advertising and smartphone software.” Furthermore, Microsoft is alleging that Google prevents its search rivals, such as Microsoft’s Bing, from properly indexing sites under Google’s control, most notably YouTube.
Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich quickly responded to Microsoft’s claims and denied that the company manipulated search engine results or prevented access to content on Google sites.
Google’s dominant market share and growth in the last few years has resulted in detailed scrutiny by a variety of government organizations. Last week, a Federal District Court in New York ruled that Google’s “plan to scan and digitize millions of books raised antitrust concerns.” The Justice Department is also looking into Google’s planned purchase of ITA, a travel industry software company. ITA currently provides backend data to Orbitz, Bing Travel, Kayak.com, Hotwire, and many other airline websites.
In Microsoft’s blog devoted to legal, public policy and citizenship issues, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith goes into further detail about the antitrust filing providing six examples of instances where Google is impeding competition.
Microsoft’s complaint against Google will be one of many the company will be facing however Microsoft’s influence in the industry and its deep cash reverses will provide for an interesting and lengthy battle between the two tech giants.
