Google goes back to court over Vista search tools
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Won't take 'No' for an answer A week ago, a federal judge told Google it should contact the Department of Justice with any complaints about the desktop search tools built into Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system. But Google has other ideas.â¦
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Online search leader Google Inc. has won a key court ruling in a patent dispute over its popular three-dimensional software that provides Internet tours of the Earth.
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Microsoft Corp. will make changes to its desktop search program following a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) by Google Inc., a news report said late Tuesday.
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A FEDERAL judge in Alexandria, Va., will hear opening arguments today in a case that pits Geico against Google. Geico, the auto insurer owned by Berkshire Hathaway, sued Google in May for trademark infringement.
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Vista tops list of tech disappointments... NYT and Henry Blodget weigh in on Google's threat to Microsoft... More people are 'Googling' themselves and more...
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Microsoft fired back at Google's attempts to have antitrust regulators take a second look at Vista's search capabilities, calling the search giant's claims "baseless."
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Vista tops list of tech disappointments...NYT and Henry Blodget weigh in on Google's threat to Microsoft...More people are "Googling" themselves and more...
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WASHINGTON -- The judge overseeing Microsoft Corp.'s antitrust settlement said Tuesday she would not immediately address complaints Google Inc. has made about Microsoft's Windows Vista software.
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(InfoWorld) - Google still hopes to influence changes that Microsoft plans to make in Vista's desktop search function, even after the parties involved in Microsoft's 2002 antitrust settlement agreed to alterations to the search system. On Monday, in response to Microsoft's opposition to an earlier request, Google asked that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia allow it to weigh in as an interested party regarding the way the search function should be changed. The filing comes two weeks after Microsoft and the plaintiffs in the antitrust suit said that they had worked together and agreed to changes. The concerns about the desktop search function initially arose after Google complained to the plaintiffs and state attorney generals late last year that Microsoft's desktop search put third-party desktop search providers at a disadvantage. According to the terms of Microsoft's antitrust settlement, third parties like Google must address their complaints about Microsoft's compliance with the settlement to the plaintiffs and the states. In their quarterly report to the court on June 19, Microsoft and the plaintiffs told the judge that based on Google's complaint, they had agreed on a way for Microsoft to change Vista desktop search to satisfy third party concerns. However, on June 25, the night before the judge was set to meet with the parties to discuss the quarterly report, Google made a filing to the court asking to weigh in on the case. In addition to the request, Google included the comments that it wanted to file as a third party. In a response filing, Microsoft called the move an attempt at an "end-run" around the terms of the settlement agreement, which require third parties to work with the plaintiffs, not directly with the court. Microsoft also argued that the matter is settled already, so there's no issue for Google to participate in resolving. It also argued that Google isn't qualified to participate because it isn't a party involved in the antitrust case. During the discussion of the quarterly report last week, the judge appeared to agree with Microsoft. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly remarked then that the plaintiffs serve as representatives of the consumer and that Google isn't a party in the case. Google's filing on Monday is in response to Microsoft's filing. Google argues that it can offer an important and useful perspective to the situation because it is a developer of a desktop search product and because it initially drew the attention of the plaintiffs to the Vista desktop search issue. Google is also asking for more information about the agreed changes so that it may determine whether they go far enough. If Google thinks the changes aren't enough, it wants to have the opportunity to offer its opinions to the court, according to the filing. The next step is for the judge to decide whether to allow Google's participation.
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Hyperphrase case rumbles on Google has been hit by a setback in a patent row with Hyperphrase Technologies, LLC.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Google may be seeking a reopening of state and federal government antitrust action against Microsoft, but a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official has recommended against it, newspaper reports indicated Sunday. Google alleged that Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system puts other search software companies at a disadvantage, making it difficult for users to employ non-Microsoft desktop-search software, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing lawyers familiar with the case. Microsoft's own desktop indexing system is almost impossible to turn off, Google claimed in a white paper sent to both the DOJ and states' attorneys general, thereby affecting a computer's performance when running non-Microsoft search index, the report said. Microsoft denied the accusations, saying that its own search indexing could be turned off, although with some difficulty, and that its program did not interfere with the operation of other search indexing software and therefore did not influence performance, according to the report. Despite Google's efforts to draw its rival into a protracted legal fight, the company's antitrust cries are falling on deaf ears, especially at the DOJ, which fought Microsoft over monopoly accusations in the late 1990s until a settlement in 2002, according to The New York Times, which also cited lawyers close to the case. Thomas O. Barnett, now the DOJ's top-ranking antitrust official, recommended in May that the DOJ and state attorneys general reject Google's complaint, the report said. Formerly employed by a law firm that represented Microsoft during the DOJ antitrust suit, Barnett did not work on the case before joining the DOJ, and recused himself from involvement in the DOJ's ongoing monitoring of Microsoft that is part of the 2002 settlement, the report said. However, some state prosecutors may take up the case with or without the DOJ, which is slated to be heard in Federal District Court in Washington later this month, it said.
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Internet search leader Google Inc. is trying to convince federal and state authorities that Microsoft Corp.'s Vista operating system is stifling competition as the high-tech heavyweights wrestle for the allegiance of personal computer users.
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Google Inc. is arguing that Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista violates a 2002 antitrust settlement because its indexing software is hard to turn off. But an expert says indexing can be disabled easily.
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The federal judge overseeing  Microsoft Corp.&#39;s antitrust compliance said on Tuesday that she  will rely on the Justice Department and state attorneys general  in deciding how to handle Google Inc.&#39;s concerns about  Microsoft&#39;s Vista operating system.
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Microsoft will make changes to its desktop search program following a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) by Google, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Microsoft Corp.  has agreed to modify its Windows Vista operating system in response to a complaint that its computer search function put Google Inc.  and other potential rivals at a disadvantage, the Justice Department and Microsoft said on Tuesday.
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A federal court hearing today is set to review the terms of Microsoft's five-year-old settlement order, which ended the Justice Department's antitrust case against the software giant. A brief filed by Google argues the order should remain in force, because of anticompetitive features in Windows Vista.