Competition Law Complaint Against Google by Microsoft

by Katy Murcutt - Paralegal

19 March 2011, filed under Ecommerce

Microsoft is demanding action against competitor Google after accusing the search engine giant of restricting rivals ability to compete.

The software company has spent over a decade fighting competition law conflicts which has resulted in millions of pounds worth of fines. However, this is the first time Microsoft has ever demanded that action is taken against its rival.

Microsoft believes that Google prevents other companies from being able to access necessary information to provide an effective search facility for internet users. An example of this is evident on YouTube as non Google search engines, such as Microsoft Bing, do not see whole information on the site as this is hidden from non Google search engines.

Google have put in place an increasing number of measures to limit competitors search engines from accessing particular popular sites from search results. Microsoft has commented that they are on an unequal footing with Google because they have a monopoly on the market.

Last week a court in new York rejected a the claim that Google had blocked Microsoft Windows mobile phones from using certain functions on popular websites such as YouTube.

Google has been criticised for the way it handles rival companies advertisements in its search results by rearranging them subject to their own scale. In regard to this criticism, other online companies and users have a expressed concern about the search engines results when used in Europe.

Google has long been an innovating company, but the result of the result conflicts with Microsoft has left Google open to criticism and subject to competition laws in Europe, resulting in anti-trust complaints.

Microsoft have asked European officials to formally assess the extent of the alleged restrictions to determine whether Google are operating within the constraints of competition laws.

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