Last week, Google was hit with a lawsuit claiming it used anticompetitive, monopolist tactics to push a “competing” search engine out of business. An interesting aspect to the suit is that the lawyer for the plaintiff, TradeComet, most recently represented Microsoft in its antitrust battle with the U.S. DOJ. This week, it looks like Google is fighting back, announcing that it is seeking to join the EU inquiry into Microsoft’s alleged browser monopoly. Interesting.
The EU is currently investigating whether Microsoft’s IE is effectively shielded from competition, since it gets bundled with Windows. Interested third parties currently include such browser stalwarts as Mozilla, maker of Firefox, and Opera-maker Opera Software ASA. Now that Google’s launched its own browser competitor, Chrome, it’s also looking to play its part. According to Google’s Sundar Pichai:
“The browser market is still largely uncompetitive, which holds back innovation for users,” he said. “This is because Internet Explorer is tied to Microsoft’s dominant computer operating system, giving it an unfair advantage over other browsers.”
The anti-IE suit has an uphill battle to climb, especially since many of its arguments were already heard and hammered out in the final judgment of the 2002 U.S. antitrust case against Microsoft. But Google and Microsoft both know that even suits without much merit serve to hamstring the company involved, in both time and legal fees. If Microsoft is willing to play that game in search, Google is showing that it’s ready and willing to ante up in browsers. Looks like the monopoly games have begun.
* * *
Like this post? Visit the Google Subnet home page for more news, blogs and podcasts.
More blog posts from Google Subnet:
Google throws cold water on Atlantis ‘find’
Gears an enticing target for hackers
Google succeeds Microsoft as monopolist du jour
HTC/Google: Focused on design or keeping Apple happy?
Quiz: Are you a Google expert?
Sign up for the weekly Google newsletter. (Click on News/Google News Alert.)
