Microsoft and Google have agreed to drop regulatory charges against each other and will instead focus on competing with the merits of their products. The two companies have been engaging in legal and regulatory fights for over a decade now.
Both Microsoft and Google have given statements to the press about withdrawing legal complaints over product infringements against one another.
In an email to Reuters, a Microsoft spokesperson said: "Microsoft has agreed to withdraw its regulatory complaints against Google, reflecting our changing legal priorities.
"We will continue to focus on competing vigorously for business and for customers."
Google similarly said in a statement: "Our companies compete vigorously, but we want to do so on the merits of our products, not in legal proceedings.
"As a result, following our patent agreement, we’ve now agreed to withdraw regulatory complaints against one another."
In September 2015, Microsoft and Google agreed to end their patent dispute over phones and Xboxes. With this arrangement, around 20 lawsuits in the United States and Germany were dropped.
Another major issue that Microsoft charged Google with was the way in which the search giant allegedly favoured its own search engine results, ranking down the results of competitors in vertical search results.
Not just Microsoft was involved in the 2010 European Commission lawsuit, with other companies such as TripAdvisor, Expedia, Expedia and Nokia also complaining against Google’s Android operating system for deceptively locking out competition.
Microsoft was a member of two groups, ICOMP and FairSearch, which were fighting against Google Android for its antitrust actions over its search business. It withdrew its membership from these groups before sorting issues with Google.
In September of 2015, both the companies came forward giving a joint statement on working together on certain patent matters and on working together in other areas in the future that can benefit their customers.
