Legal News

It?s 1999 All Over Again: Google Joins the New Browser Skirmish

By Ashby Jones

The heralded pop-punk outfit Jimmy Eat World is currently reexploring 1999. And so, it turns out, is Microsoft, which is currently embroiled in yet another skirmish over its Internet browser, Internet Explorer. The case, which was initiated by the EU last month — yes — accuses Microsoft of illegally tying Internet Explorer to Windows to stifle competition in the browser market.

The latest news on the EU front: Google said on Tuesday that it would apply to join the case, joining Mozilla, which makes the Firefox browser, and an Oslo-based company called Opera. Last year, Google unveiled its competing browser, called Chrome. Click here for the NYT article.

“Google believes that the browser market is still largely uncompetitive, which holds back innovation for users,” Sundar Pichai, a vice president for product management, wrote in a Google blog. “This is because Internet Explorer is tied to Microsoft’s dominant computer operating system, giving it an unfair advantage over other browsers.”

Microsoft declined to comment on Google’s announcement. The company has said regulators might force it to include rival browsers on computers that are sold with the Windows operating system.

Antitrust experts have questioned the timing of the European action, as other browsers have been steadily gaining market share. Microsoft’s share of the browser market had decreased to 68 percent in January, from about 80 percent two years ago, according to Net Applications, a research firm. Firefox had about 21.5 percent of the market, while Safari, made by Apple, had 8.3 percent, and Google’s Chrome, 1 percent.

Said Samuel R. Miller, a partner at Sidley Austin in San Francisco who acted as special trial counsel for the Justice Department’s first antitrust case against Microsoft: “This new complaint is not necessary and actually seems like it is instigated to protect particular competitors rather than the competitive process.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 25, 2009 (boomark / email).