Judge rejects Google's anti-Microsoft antitrust bid
262725
Blog: Federal judge presiding over Microsoft antitrust case says she'll rely on government attorneys, not Google, to guide enforcement.
727234
The judge considering Microsoft  Corp.'s appeal against European Union sanctions has convened a  closed meeting for Thursday after two more major opponents of  the U.S. software giant withdrew from the case, a court  spokesman said on Wednesday.
141168
A federal court judge on Thursday  dismissed a lawsuit against Google Inc. by disgruntled  advertising customer Kinderstart that had accused the Web  search leader of monopolistic business practices.
404700
Google Inc. refused to comply Wednesday with a Belgian court decision that required the company to publish the original text of the ruling on its sites, calling that requirement "unnecessary" and "disproportionate."
689605
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a key element of insurer Geico&#39;s trademark infringement case against online search engine Google.
418188
The Delaware judge overseeing the legal wrangling there between PeopleSoft (Profile, Products, Articles) and hostile suitor Oracle (Profile, Products, Articles) rejected on
106190
Software giant Microsoft Corp. will for the first time be forced by antitrust regulators to change how it designs and sells its widely used Windows operating system, after a European Union judge Wednesday rejected the company's bid to postpone sanctions against it.- washingtonpost.com
181908
(InfoWorld) - Google's claims thatÂ Microsoft's built-in Vista desktop indexing and search tool violates its antitrust agreementÂ could be difficult to prove even if the software does slow down the performance of Google's competitive Google Desktop offering. As long as a user can run alternative software to Microsoft's Instant Search software, it's unlikely that U.S. federal antitrust officials would consider coming down on the software giant, analysts and users said. Google's claims are far different than the ones posed by Netscape during the browser wars that led to the Department of Justice's antitrust suit in the 1990s, said Rob Helm, research director at Directions on Microsoft. "Microsoft beat Netscape in part by leveraging its relationship with PC manufacturers," he said. "This is a lot subtler." Google seems to be alleging that "if two pieces of software don't play together, then it must be an anticompetitive tactic of Microsoft's," Helm said. "I don't recall any past antitrust cases asserting something so broad," he said. The presence of Microsoft's Vista desktop search could be slowing down Google's product merely as an accident of product design, not because of any malicious intent by Microsoft, Helm said. "Even if Microsoft's software was perfectly written, the way Google interacts with it might be bad, and either company might be at fault," he said. "They could have both done the right things in different ways that might conflict with each other." According to a report in The Wall Street Journal Monday, Google sent a white paper to U.S. federal and state antitrust officials in April to try to convince them that Vista makes it difficult for consumers to use rival desktop search software. In its white paper, Google claims that Vista's search boxes and bars -- available in several places in the OS, including the Start menu and in the Windows Explorer file manager -- work only with Microsoft's search and indexing tool. The company also said it is nearly impossible to turn off Vista's indexing, which means a competitor must add a second indexer that slows down a PC. Google spokesman Ricardo Reyes confirmed the company's charge against Microsoft Monday. Microsoft is disputing Google's charges and said that it has worked closely with federal officials to ensure its Vista OS, released to consumers in January, fosters rather than inhibits competition in the area of desktop search. Users can disable Vista's desktop search service, but the company has not made it simple for them to do so, acknowledged Jack Evans, a Microsoft spokesman. He said this is because the company designed Vista's desktop search specifically "to not affect performance and back off any other programs running" -- including any third-party desktop search software -- in a way that should resolve any claims of anticompetitive behavior, Evans said. Andrew Brust, chief, new technology of consulting firm Twentysix New York, said he used Google's desktop search when it first came out but switched to Microsoft's product when it became available for Windows XP because he preferred it. "Microsoft chose to integrate into Windows, whereas Google decided to be browser-based," he said. "Plus, at least back then, Google installed its own local Web server as part of the product and I really didn't like all that baggage. Microsoft's was just more useful." Brust, who has used Vista in beta form, said integrating desktop search into Vista is "common sense" and suggested that Google's complaints might be sour grapes over Microsoft's own antitrust charges against the search vendor when it unveiled plans toÂ purchase online advertising and marketing powerhouse DoubleClick. Samir Bhavnani, research director for analyst firm Current Analysis West, said that Microsoft's integration of desktop search into Vista was a response to Apple's inclusion of desktop search in their Mac OS, not a move against Google. He said it wouldn't be fair for Google to accuse Microsoft of being anticompetitive without leveling the same charge at Apple. However, Helm contradicted this reasoning and said that Apple was not found in a U.S. court to have a monopoly on PC OSes, while Microsoft was in the DoJ case. "I don't have the impression that Google is worried about Apple," he said.
593194
Judge rejects Justice Department charges, allowing Oracle's hostile bid for PeopleSoft to continue.
692231
Judge dismisses one of several patent claims by Alcatel-Lucent against Microsoft, but others remain.
558835
Google Inc.  asked a federal  judge on Monday to extend the consent decree that settled the  landmark antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.  in  order to address competition concerns involving the Windows  Vista operating system.
60027
Blog: The U.S. government rejected Google's initial complaint that Microsoft was engaging in anticompetitive behavior, but at least one state attorney general is willing to look into it.
236839
A top European Union judge  challenged the EU executive's reasoning in its antitrust court  battle with Microsoft Corp. Friday, questioning why it opposed  the U.S. software giant's setting industry standards.
290004
A judge dismisses one of Alcatel-Lucent's patent-infringement claims against Microsoft.
293018
US District Judge Kathleen Kollar-Kotelly - who nearly five years ago was at the center of the spotlight as the second district judge in the Microsoft antitrust trial - stated Google is not a party to that case, rejecting Google's plea to consider extending the settlement term that would enable its objections to be remedied.
551949
Search giant bucking to be the "20th plaintiff" in 2002 antitrust case?Microsoft and Google continue to provide a spectacle for onlookers and, most likely, a headache for Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. The jurist overseeing the former company's 2002 antitrust settlement received a second legal brief in the case late Monday -- this one from Microsoft, asking that the court ignore Google's amicus petition, filed earlier in the day.
242457
A U.S. federal judge dismissed  Alcatel-Lucent's  patent claim against Microsoft  Corp.  over technology that converts speech into text,  the two companies said on Friday.