14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft got fined $732 million (€560 million) last month after the European Commission found that the company had violated competition rules on the Old Continent with its Internet Explorer browser, but the software giant is now fighting back with a complaint against Google.
Google is now investigated by EU’s regulators in a similar antitrust case, but it seems that the Mountain View-based company is currently trying to settle the investigation by agreeing to implement a set of changes in its search engine.
According to a report published by Bloomberg, Google is reportedly ready to make a difference between regular search results and its own services whenever you look for something on its search engine, which would basically allow users to avoid getting “Scroogled,” as Microsoft likes to say.
In addition, Google has surprisingly agreed to introduce links to rival search engines, but no specifics have been provided for the time being.
A larger group of companies, including Microsoft, which has tipped off the European Commission over Google’s antitrust issues, has already expressed its disagreement with the settlement, even though the EU regulators are yet to make their decision public.
“If what has been proposed is labeling or a modified form of labeling, frankly that’s a non-starter. We haven’t seen the proposals and the commission hasn’t explained them to us. We’re in the dark,” David Wood, a lawyer of ICOMP, the company that filed the anti-Google complaint, said.
Soon after Microsoft got fined by the European Commission it emerged that Google and Opera were both behind the investigation, as the two companies complained about the software giant’s decision to keep Internet Explorer installed by default on Windows 7 computers sold on the Old Continent.
Now, Microsoft is trying to get Google a fine too, but it’s not yet clear whether the search company will manage to get a settlement or receive a financial penalty as well.