June 20, 2007

AG Singer Reaches Agreement With Microsoft

(Washington, DC)  Attorney General Linda Singer announced today that the District of Columbia has joined the United States Department of Justice and a group of Plaintiff states in entering into a settlement agreement with Microsoft with regard to allegations of exclusionary conduct made by Google, Inc. The allegations are that Microsoft's new Vista computer operating system impedes access to the Microsoft desktop by Google's desktop search product. Attorney General Singer said that "I am glad that the allegations of exclusionary conduct have been resolved between government Plaintiffs and Microsoft without litigation. I am hopeful that the settlement agreement will achieve its goals of promoting computer manufacturer and user choice in desktop search, so that government enforcers will not need to revisit the issues in the future." The settlement is outlined in a status report that has been filed in federal district court regarding Microsoft's compliance with 2002 antitrust Final Judgments. A copy is attached.

Google's informal complaint relates to desktop search functionality that permits users to search for files located on their computer. Users enter a search query into a text box and receive a list of results from the user's hard drive that contain the search term, either in the name of the file or program, in the full text of the file, or in the keywords associated with that file. The desktop search functionality relies on an index that is updated whenever files on the computer change. The use of an index enables the quick return of search results, rather than having to search every file on the computer.

The United States Department of Justice and state Plaintiffs have successfully worked together to reach a settlement agreement with Microsoft that contains three primary features:

First, Microsoft will create a mechanism for end users and computer manufacturers to select a default program to handle desktop search. Google and other desktop search companies will be able to register their desktop search products for this default, similar to the way that Netscape or RealPlayer can register third-party web browsers and media players as the default in Windows today.

Second, the default desktop search program will be launched whenever Windows launches a new top-level window to provide search results. This will include an existing location on the Start menu that a user can select to display additional search results in a new window. In certain other windows, when the user enters a query Vista will continue to display the search results using the internal Vista desktop search functionality. Microsoft has agreed, however, to add a link in these windows that, if clicked, will launch the default desktop search program and display search results from that program.

Page 1 of 2      1  2