• CNET, Thursday, March 31, 2011 11:22 AM

Kicking a competitor where it hurts, Microsoft said it will file a formal complaint against Google with European antitrust regulators. Calling the move "somewhat ironic," CNet reminds us that Microsoft itself has been the subject of several antitrust probes in the United States and abroad.

"Still, irony has no place in antitrust doctrine," notes The New York Times. "Microsoft's complaint must be weighed on the merits, as part of a wide-ranging antitrust investigation of Google, begun last year and led by Europe's competition commissioner, Joaquín Almunia." "The shoe, as the say, is now officially on the other foot," Fortune quips.

Specifically, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith argues that Google is engaging in anticompetitive behavior in search, online advertising and smartphone software.  As paidContent puts its, "Microsoft ... senses blood in [the European Commission's antitrust] department's investigation in to Google's dominance."

Put in a slightly different light, PCWorld writes: "Microsoft's antitrust filing ... shows how frustrated the company is with Google." In response, Google tells The Los Angeles Times: "We're not surprised that Microsoft has done this, since one of their subsidiaries was one of the original complainants."

"This filing and Microsoft's claims emerge as something of a ‘Rorschach Test' for observers and commentators," according to Search Engine Land. "Depending on your feelings about Google and Microsoft you may see the claims as sour grapes or the refuge of a company that has fallen behind in the market. Alternatively you may see Microsoft expressing legitimate issues around Google's market-share dominance."

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