MUST READ: Congress demands answers from Google over Glass privacy concerns

Topic: Enterprise Software

Microsoft and Google step up their anti-trust battles

Summary: It's payback time for Google as the EU investigates Google, prompted by Microsoft. But Microsoft knows how to use anti-trust laws...

Tom Foremski

By for Tom Foremski: IMHO |

Google said on Tuesday that it had received notice from the European Commission that it would investigate complaints by three European companies, two of them Microsoft backed.

Julia Holtz, Senior Competition Counsel at Google, wrote: Google Public Policy Blog: Committed to competing fairly

Foundem - a member of an organisation called ICOMPwhich is funded partly by Microsoft - argues that our algorithms demote their site in our results because they are a vertical search engine and so a direct competitor to Google. ejustice.fr's complaint seems to echo these concerns.

...Regarding Ciao!, they were a long-time AdSense partner of Google's, with whom we always had a good relationship. However, after Microsoft acquired Ciao! in 2008 (renaming it Ciao! from Bing) we started receiving complaints about our standard terms and conditions. They initially took their case to the German competition authority, but it now has been transferred to Brussels.

She said that Google is not "doing anything to choke off competition or hurt our users and partners."

Google has filed anti-trust complaints against Microsoft in the past so this can be seen as payback. Filing anti-trust complaints against each other is a risky game for Google. Microsoft has far more experience with anti-trust laws, here in the US and and Europe, because it has battled such complaints for years. Microsoft's legal teams have a massive amount of knowledge about how to defend against such complaints. And they also know how to craft anti-trust complaints against Google and how to use those complex legal strategies in the most effective manner. Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, is no stranger to filing anti-trust complaints against Microsoft. When he ran Novell, Microsoft was its top competitor. But using the same tactics at Google could prove to be a mistake, given Microsoft's long history and expertise in dealing with anti-trust issues.

Topics: Enterprise Software, Google, Microsoft, Security

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Talkback

30 comments
Log in or register to join the discussion

  • Oh here goes (NT)

    NT
    rebelxhardcore
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft and Google step up their anti-trust battles

      @rebelxhardcore
      thanks for sharing ne~ <a href="http://www.rolexwatchesuk.co.uk">replica watches uk</a>
      yantangseo
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft and Google step up their anti-trust battles

      @rebelxhardcore
      thank you very much. <a href="http://www.rolexwatchesuk.co.uk">replica watches uk</a>
      yantangseo
      Reply Vote

  • Clash of the Olympians

    This sounds like saying M$ is less likely to go to jail becuase it has been tried many times before and only served a few terms in prison.

    Can you give some examples of successful defences? I can only think of the losing browser cases: especially having seen the 'choose-your-browser' option yesterday in Windows Update. Perhaps you consider these to be winners - the gap between the violation and the insignificant punishment not following until many years after the deed had done its damage.

    I would say M$ got away with the Vista capable deception ... but that's not antitrust.
    johnfenjackson@...
    Reply Vote

    • I'd say its a win. IE still most used browser. nt

      nt
      eargasm
      Reply Vote

      • Then you shouldn't have any problem

        ...with browser choice ballots...
        Wintel_BSOD
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft and Google step up their anti-trust battles

    I don't understand what Google is actually complaining about. They should have expected this with all the complaining they themselves have done. I can only hope they get what is coming to them as well.
    Loverock Davidson
    Reply Vote

    • Of course

      I'm sure you support this as you did MS getting what they had coming as well.
      Viva la crank dodo
      Reply Vote

      • getting what they had coming?

        No! MS has not got what they have coming yet. They are
        pissing around with scare tactics and licensing agreements
        for protection on Open Source products. You have yet to see
        how that will backfire, just like in the i4i case. The code that
        MS uses is not immune. There may be no direct monetary
        risk but there is a high "remove the code" risk.
        bigpicture
        Reply Vote

  • M$ shold be boycotted by everyone

    for instigating frivolous investigation against innocent companies like google.
    Google should also launch a US lawsuit for defamation against M$ and its shills.
    Linux Geek
    Reply Vote

    • YES! PROTECT inn$cent G$$GLE

      Oh yeah, Google is a virgin. It needs your help. Didn't we just discussed how they sell users browsing history, Google buzz, and other Google's innocent creative business inventions...
      pupkin_z
      Reply Vote

      • they are nothing compared to M$ dirty deeds

        Anyone can live with Google's actions since they improve the surfing experience a lot.
        And their actions are standard and best industry practice anyway!
        You can't say the same thing about illegal bundling done by the M$ crooks or keeping the code and protocols closed.
        Linux Geek
        Reply Vote

        • Ahh another gullible person - LOL nt

          nt
          ItsTheBottomLine
          Reply Vote

        • Illegal bundling?

          Ok, Microsoft bundled a browser into their OS. So did Apple, and now, Linux. SO WHAT? BIG DEAL! Yes, Google follows industry "practices". That doesn't make either of them baddies. Just get over the fact that MS has gotten big on steam that it generated - Windows. No company sets out to screw its users. You're just biased and voicing unfounded, blindness-ridden opinions is not that great a feat. Why don't you bark up some other tree Mr. "LinuxGeek". Every company has its ups and downs. The problems occur when they lose sight of true Capitalism. It's not about whose worse but about whose better...

          Now, let's see you say something about a company that doesn't defame another...
          joepranay
          Reply Vote

      • Not so innocent...

        Google it not gonna stop hearing from the public about their blatant disregard for other people's privacy. The Canadian Privacy Commission came down hard on Facebook for privacy issues and they were forced to change their security model. Google will be no exception. Google and their automatic opt-in for buzz makes me ill. I can't believe that Google would think I wanted to be on Buzz just because I have a Gmail account. Some days I wonder why I even have that anymore. I don't see anything that would warrant antitrust, but privacy is the biggest concern with Google now and the world isn't very kind to companies who sell our personal info to third parties.
        DarkLynx
        Reply Vote

    • They would be loosers, just like linux is a looser. nt

      nt
      eargasm
      Reply Vote

      • SpellCheck?

        You forgot to use your Microsoft spell checker! It is not 'looser', it is 'loser'! Why don't you use all of your fancy Microshaft ability?
        SkaldedKat
        Reply Vote

        • use all of your fancy Microshaft ability?

          That's most likely the problem. He did!
          Ole Man
          Reply Vote

      • Retard alert? Retard alert?

        [i]They would be loosers, just like linux is a looser.[/i]

        "looser"?

        "loosers"?

        "looser"?

        "loosers"?

        lol.... :D
        Wintel_BSOD
        Reply Vote

      • They would be loose?

        So would that mean they lost a little weight and therefore their clothing was
        looser? I don't know where you're getting that idea from but ok... If that's what
        you think, I guess there's no harm in that.
        awasson@...
        Reply Vote
CNET Join | Log In | Privacy | Cookies Close