• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, September 3, 2010

Google said that the Texas authorities are asking for information about three companies: Foundem (a British price comparison site backed by Microsoft), TradeComet's SourceTool, and comparison shopping site myTriggers. TradeComet and myTriggers recently filed antitrust lawsuits against Google. A court dismissed TradeComet's lawsuit and the company is now appealing.

The lawsuit by myTriggers is still pending, but it's not clear how far that case will get. myTriggers alleged in its complaint that Google raised the cost of myTriggers' pay-per-click ads for anticompetitave reasons, but myTriggers previously said in an insurance claim that server crashes spurred Google to raise prices.

The Texas investigation was first reported by Search Engine Land.