Google’s Latest Microsoft Filing Accompanied by Ax and Grindstone
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 26, 2007 at 12:01 AM PT
The modifications Microsoft made to Vista last week haven’t done much to assuage Google’s concerns that Redmond may use its monopoly to hijack desktop search. The search company asked a federal judge yesterday for “continued judicial oversight of Microsoft’s practices.” In an unusual seven-page amicus brief request filed directly to Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the judge overseeing Microsoft’s landmark antitrust settlement, Google argued “Microsoft’s hardwiring of its own desktop search product into Windows Vista violates the final judgment in this case.”
“The remedies won by the Department of Justice and state attorneys general from Microsoft are a positive step, but consumers will likely need further measures to ensure meaningful choice,” David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, explained. “Ultimately, these issues raise the need for continued judicial oversight of Microsoft’s practices, to ensure that consumers’ interests are best served.”
And Google’s interests as well, of course. Clearly, the company’s a Microsoft competitor with a bit of an ax to grind, as Microsoft argued back. “Microsoft went the extra mile to resolve these issues in a spirit of compromise; Google’s refusing to give an inch,” Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel, said in an emailed statement. “We believe any additional changes Google may be demanding were rejected for good reason by the government and would be a setback for computer users.”
