Google says Microsoft balking at turning over documents in antitrust fight
Google says Microsoft balking at turning over documents in antitrust fight
WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google has asked a judge hearing the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against the search and advertising giant to compel Microsoft to turn over documents, saying it has failed to comply with a subpoena, according to a court filing unsealed late Thursday.
Google served a subpoena to Microsoft more than three months ago, seeking documents regarding Microsoft's Bing search engine as well as its Internet Explorer and Edge but has not received them, the filing said.
Google says some of the documents might shed light on whether Microsoft was actually restrained from competing with Google, or whether it simply failed to compete successfully.
"In particular, there are nineteen Microsoft employees who held important positions relating to activities at the core of this case but whose files Microsoft refuses to commit to search at this time," Google said in the filing.
Google's search engine is the market leader by far while Bing's share is in single digits. Google also has a browser, Chrome.
Microsoft, also in a filing late on Thursday, said that Google's additional requests brings the total number of custodians, whose files Microsoft will have to search, to 55.
Google has failed to offer "specific reasons" for why these additional files are necessary, Microsoft added.
Google had said that the 19 of these additional custodians were "highly likely to possess relevant, non-cumulative documents."
According to Google, these executives covered issues at the core of the case, including the development and distribution of Microsoft's various search engines, Microsoft’s search advertising business, and Microsoft's effort to market devices that would give it more search access points beyond the Windows desktop.
The Justice Department sued Google in October, kicking off a spate of federal and state antitrust lawsuits against both Google and Facebook Inc . The federal case against Google and a broader state case have been consolidated for purposes of trial preparation.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz and Shubham Kalia)
((Diane.Bartz@thomsonreuters.com; 1 202 898 8313;)
路透华盛顿7月29日-周四晚些时候公布的一份法庭文件显示，Alphabet旗下的谷歌(Google)要求一名法官审理司法部对这家搜索和广告巨头的反垄断诉讼，迫使微软交出文件，称微软未能遵守传票。文件称，谷歌在三个多月前向微软发出传票，要求提供有关微软必应(Bing)搜索引擎以及IE和Edge的文件，但尚未收到。谷歌表示，其中一些文件可能会揭示微软是否真的受到了限制，无法与谷歌竞争，或者只是未能成功竞争。谷歌在文件中表示：“特别值得一提的是，有19名微软员工担任了与本案核心活动相关的重要职位，但微软目前拒绝承诺搜索他们的文件。”到目前为止，谷歌的搜索引擎是市场的领头羊，而必应的市场份额只有个位数。谷歌也有浏览器Chrome。微软也在周四晚些时候提交的一份文件中表示，谷歌的额外请求使微软必须搜索其文件的托管人总数达到55人。微软补充说，谷歌没有提供为什么需要这些额外文件的“具体原因”。谷歌曾表示，这19名额外的托管人“极有可能拥有相关的、非累积的文件。”根据谷歌的说法，这些高管涉及此案的核心问题，包括微软各种搜索引擎的开发和分销，微软的搜索广告业务，以及微软努力营销的设备，这些设备将使微软在Windows桌面之外获得更多搜索访问点。司法部在10月份起诉谷歌，引发了一系列针对谷歌和Facebook Inc.的联邦和州反垄断诉讼。为了准备审判，针对谷歌的联邦案件和更广泛的州案件已经合并。(Diane Bartz和Shubham Kalia报道)(Diane.Bartz@thomsonreurs.com；1 202 898 8313；)