Alphabet’s Google has asked a judge presiding over the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against it to compel Microsoft to turn over documents, saying that the software giant failed to comply with a subpoena.
The information comes from a court filing unsealed late Thursday. Google served a subpoena to Microsoft more than three months ago to get documents regarding Microsoft’s Bing search engine, as well as its Internet Explorer and Edge iterations.
However, Google says it never got the documents.
Giants fighting
Google’s search engine is the market leader, while Bing’s market share is in the single digits. Google also has a browser (Chrome).
Microsoft, in a filing late Thursday, said that Google’s additional requests bring the number of custodians whose files it will have to search to 55. The software giant also said that Google has not offered specific reasons for why the additional files are necessary.
Google has said that 19 of the additional custodians were highly likely to have relevant, non-cumulative documents, adding that the executives covered issues important to the case.
Pertinent or not?
Google thinks that the additional information may offer insights into the development and distribution of Microsoft’s search engines, ad business, and its foray into devices that would have given it more search access points beyond Windows.
The Justice Department sued Google in October, kicking off several federal-level and state-level antitrust lawsuits against Facebook and Google. The federal case against Google and a more expansive state case have combined to prepare for the trial.
So far, big tech in the US is yet to feel the consequences. Hopefully, that changes soon.
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