Microsoft to go to Japanese FTC about Google-Yahoo deal

Microsoft is planning to go to the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to make its case as to why the just-announced Google-Yahoo search deal is anticompetitive.

I asked the Softies earlier this week whether they planned to do anything more than complain about the deal via a blog post, but was told there was nothing more to say at this time. On July 30, Silicon Alley's Business Insider blog cited an unnamed "Microsoft rep" saying the company planned to go to the FTC to attempt to block the deal.

Microsoft legal spokesman Jack Evans confirmed to me via e-mail that Microsoft will be going to the JFTC, but didn't share more about what form its complaint might take or when it might happen. Evans said, "Yes, we plan to provide information to JFTC about why we think this deal is more harmful even than the deal Google proposed with Yahoo in the US and Canada."

Microsoft already aired its views as to why it was against the Google-Yahoo partnership via a corporate blog post on July 28.  Google already obtained JFTC approval for the deal even before it was announced, according to the Microsoft post.

Microsoft has tangled with the JFTC in the past. Last decade, the JFTC investigated Microsoft for alleged anticompetitive business practices around its monopoly in the PC market.