{"id":353123,"date":"2011-03-31T13:32:36","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T13:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/31\/microsoft-takes-google-to-court\/"},"modified":"2011-03-31T13:32:36","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T13:32:36","slug":"microsoft-takes-google-to-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/31\/microsoft-takes-google-to-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft takes Google to court"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The shoe, as the say, is now officially on the other foot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a move which has shown how much the competitive landscape has moved in the past decade, Microsoft (MSFT)<\/a> filed a formal complaint <\/a>with the E.U. Commission over what it sees as anti-competitive tactics used by Google (GOOG<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Microsoft is still reeling from its own anti-trust settlement in the E.U. just two years ago<\/a>. \u00a0The decade long fight\u00a0ended with Microsoft creating a browser ballot box in its Windows operating system and having to pay out almost $2.5B in fines.<\/p>\n

“The company that was the 800-pound gorilla is now resorting to antitrust, where it is always the case that the also-rans sue the winners,” said Michael A. Cusumano, a professor at the\u00a0Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management who has studied Microsoft to the NYTimes.<\/a><\/p>\n

Until now, Microsoft has been fighting Google by proxy<\/a> in the E.U. and in the U.S. by enlisting subsidiaries<\/a> and partners to file anti-trust actions against its rival.<\/p>\n

The complaint is that Google uses its market-leading position in search to block competitors (such as Microsoft) from entering search and other related fields. \u00a0Microsoft breaks these down with six examples:<\/p>\n

\n

First, in 2006 Google acquired YouTube\u2014and since then it has put in place a growing number of technical measures to restrict competing search engines from properly accessing it from their search results.\u00a0 Without proper access to YouTube, Bing and other search engines cannot stand with Google on an equal footing in returning search results with links to YouTube videos and that, of course, drives more users away from competitors and to Google.<\/p>\n

Second, in 2010 and again more recently, Google blocked Microsoft’s new Windows Phones from operating properly with YouTube. Google has enabled its own Android phones to access YouTube so that users can search for video categories, find favorites, see ratings, and so forth in the rich user interfaces offered by those phones.\u00a0 It’s done the same thing for the iPhones offered by Apple, which doesn’t offer a competing search service.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Google has refused to allow Microsoft’s new Windows Phones to access this YouTube metadata in the same way that Android phones and iPhones do.\u00a0 As a result, Microsoft’s YouTube “app” on Windows Phones is basically just a browser displaying YouTube’s mobile Web site, without the rich functionality offered on competing phones.\u00a0 Microsoft is ready to release a high quality YouTube app for Windows Phone.\u00a0 We just need permission to access YouTube in the way that other phones already do, permission Google has refused to provide.<\/p>\n

Third, Google is seeking to block access to content owned by book publishers.\u00a0 This was underscored in federal court in New York last week, in the decision involving Google’s effort to obtain exclusive and unfettered access to the large volume of so-called “orphan books”\u2014books for which no copyright holder can readily be found.\u00a0 Under Google’s plan only its search engine would be able to return search results from these books.\u00a0 As the federal court said in rejecting this plan, “Google’s ability to deny competitors the ability to search orphan books would further entrench Google’s market power in the online search market.”\u00a0 This is an important initial step under U.S. law, but it needs to be reinforced by similar positions in Europe and the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

Fourth, Google is even restricting its customers’\u2014namely, advertisers’\u2014access to their own data.\u00a0 Advertisers input large amounts of data into Google’s ad servers in the course of managing their advertising campaigns.\u00a0 This data belongs to the advertisers:\u00a0 it reflects their decisions about their own business.\u00a0 But Google contractually prohibits advertisers from using their data in an interoperable way with other search advertising platforms, such as Microsoft’s adCenter.<\/p>\n

This makes it much more costly for Google’s advertisers to run portions of their campaigns with any competitor, and thus less likely that they will do so.\u00a0 That is a significant problem because most advertisers figure that they have to advertise first with Google.\u00a0 If it’s too expensive to port their advertising campaign data to competing advertising platforms, many won’t do it.\u00a0 Competing search engines are left with less relevant ads, and less revenue.\u00a0 And while this restraint isn’t visible to consumers, its effects are nonetheless felt across the Web.\u00a0 Advertising revenue is the economic propellant fueling the billions of dollars needed for ongoing search investments.\u00a0 By reducing competitors’ ability to attract advertising revenue, this restriction strikes at the heart of a competitive market.<\/p>\n

Fifth, this undermining of competition is reflected in concerns that go beyond Google’s control over content.\u00a0 One of the ways that search engines attract users is through distribution of search boxes through Web sites.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Google contractually blocks leading Web sites in Europe from distributing competing search boxes.\u00a0 It is obviously difficult for competing search engines to gain users when nearly every search box is powered by Google.\u00a0 Google’s exclusivity terms have even blocked Microsoft from distributing its Windows Live services, such as email and online document storage, through European telecommunications companies because these services are monetized through Bing search boxes.<\/p>\n

Finally, we share the concerns expressed by many others that Google discriminates against would-be competitors by making it more costly for them to attain prominent placement for their advertisements.\u00a0 Microsoft has provided the Commission with a considerable body of expert analysis concerning how search engine algorithms work and the competitive significance of promoting or demoting various advertisements.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Google hasn’t formally responded to the charges only saying it hadn’t done anything wrong. Google is also facing anti-trust fears in the U.S., most recently with the Texas Attorney General<\/a> and over its proposed ITA acquisition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

See the original post here:
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