Microsoft Corp and Google on Friday agreed to withdraw complaints against each other with regulators around the world, as the two US tech giants continued recent efforts to settle the once-bitter conflicts between them.
The two companies also said they would try to resolve future squabbles before complaining to regulators, as they have in the past.
“Microsoft has agreed to withdraw its regulatory complaints against Google, reflecting our changing legal priorities,” Microsoft spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said. “We will continue to focus on competing vigorously for business and for customers.”
The armistice between the companies was no surprise after other moves by both in the last year.
In September last year, the companies dropped about 20 patent lawsuits that they had filed against each other in the US and Germany. Microsoft later withdrew its financial support for two groups that have lobbied against Google.
“Our companies compete vigorously, but we want to do so on the merits of our products, not in legal proceedings,” Google spokesman Rob Shilkin said.
The move away from legal and regulatory confrontations followed changes in the senior leadership of both companies. Since taking over as chief executive of Microsoft in early 2014, Satya Nadella has shown a willingness to collaborate more closely with companies that were once bitter rivals.
Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, was named to that position in August last year, after a major reorganization that formed a new holding company, Alphabet Inc, to oversee Google and other divisions.
Despite the detente between the tech giants, Google still faces powerful adversaries, particularly in Europe where local publishers and telecommunication operators, among others, remain wary of its powerful role in how people in the 28-member bloc gain access to digital services.
Some of those companies have filed complaints that have led to two formal documents of accusations against Google from Europe’s competition authorities.
Several US tech companies, including Oracle Corp, Yelp Inc and Expedia Inc, also claim that Google has broken antitrust rules in Europe, the US and elsewhere.
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