Brussels – Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) has submitted an antitrust complaint
against Google (NASD: GOOG) to the European Commission, alleging among other things that the
search giant has limited competitors’ access to its YouTube property. "Unfortunately,
Google has engaged in a broadening pattern of walling off access to content and
data that competitors need to provide search results to consumers and to
attract advertisers," Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and
general counsel, wrote in a post on the company’s TechNet blog.
In its
complaint, Microsoft alleges Google has degraded its Windows Mobile phones’
ability to access YouTube, refusing to offer the same "rich
functionality" of search, favorites, ratings and so forth available on
YouTube via Google Android-powered smartphones.
Microsoft also criticizes
Google for restricting advertisers’ access to the data they input to Google’s
ad servers, and mentions Google’s recent setback in federal court with its
book-scanning project, where a judge cited Google’s dominance in the search
market.
"We’re not surprised that Microsoft has done this, since one of
their subsidiaries was one of the original complainants," Google spokesman
Al Verney told The New York Times, adding Google will be "happy to explain
to anyone how our business works."
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/64673p9
(TechNet)
