Google seeks extended court scrutiny of Microsoft

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 26 June 2007 02:59

IT Industry - Strategy

Google has asked a US federal judge to extend the duration of Microsoft's antitrust consent decree.

The decree is due to expire in November, five years after the settlement, though parts have already been extended for an extra two years. Google believes last week's agreement between Microsoft and federal and state regulators over desktop search does not go far enough to repair what it sees as an unfair disadvantage to providers of alternative search products.

"Without an extension, the Court may not have effective means to oversee Microsoft's implementation of these changes and determine whether they are effective in meeting the requirements of the final judgment," Google argued in its court filing.

Google may need to establish that Vista's Instant Search is a new feature rather than an improved version of a search facility that was part of Windows at the time of the consent decree.

"We believe these additional changes Google is demanding were rejected for good reason by the government and would be a setback for computer users," said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith.