Microsoft the big winner in the Google antitrust lawsuit

GOOGLE was the big loser this week when it was the subject of a massive lawsuit, but the news definitely wasn’t bad for everyone.

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 23, 2010 file photo, the Google logo is seen at the Google headquarters in Brussels. The European Union's competition chief Margrethe Vestager is expected on Wednesday, April 15, 2015 to file a complaint alleging Google has been abusing its dominance in Internet searches. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

GOOGLE and its “Don’t be evil” motto were the big losers on Wednesday after Europe’s antitrust regulator sued the tech giant — alleging it unfairly favoured its own businesses in search results.

Google favoured “Google Shopping” over other comparison shopping products, the European Commission claimed.

While Google CEO Larry Page took his lumps with the suit, Microsoft, very quietly, came out the big winner, sources said.

“Microsoft complained a lot,” said a source with direct knowledge of the situation.

“Microsoft definitely counselled the [EC], suggesting it made sense to send Google a statement of objections so Google would be forced to produce documents” showing its search-result recipe, another source said.

“This gets at the design of Google’s core product,” a former Federal Trade Commission official said. “The precedent [even though the charge is only about favouring Google Shopping] is potentially quite dangerous.”

The EU for roughly five years has been investigating Google over much wider anti-competitive practices.

Also, the EU announced it was launching a probe of Google’s Android operating system to see if its agreements with cellular phone makers was hurting rivals.

While Microsoft likely does not care much about search preference, “the investigation throws sand in the gears of Google’s innovation,” the former FTC official said.

If Google fights the Google Shopping charge, it “will take a few years to resolve,” the source with direct knowledge of the situation said.

In contrast, the FTC in early 2013 closed a similar wide-ranging probe of Google — without filing charges — that it will likely not reopen, sources said.

A Senate subcommittee, in the wake of a recent Wall Street Journal story revealing that some at the FTC wanted to pursue a suit against Google, is hoping to launch a probe into the FTC’s inaction.

“Clearly, every company needs to obey the same legal rules of the road,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.

This story first appeared on New York Post.