• The Street, Monday, March 1, 2010 1:27 PM

Late last year, Google filed suit against a small Internet site in Ohio, in an effort to collect $335,000 in unpaid advertising bills. In response, last month, the site countered with a 24-page antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the search giant of various "monopolistic abuses," The Wall Street Journal reports. Making things more interesting, the site's legal counsel just so happens to be Charles "Rick" Rule -- the longtime chief outside counsel on competition issues for Microsoft Corp.

Perhaps more interesting still, TheStreet.com suggests in no uncertain terms that "fear of a global conspiracy by Microsoft" led Google to plant to story in The Journal as part of a pre-emptive media campaign. "Google claims that Microsoft is launching a 'proxy war' using this collection of little cases to slowly build up a big case," writes the news outlet. "To retaliate, Google is using the Wall Street Journal as its own proxy for a court of law and taking its case against Microsoft straight to the public."

Read the whole story at The Street »