Foundem, a price comparison site based in the UK, and eJustice, a French legal search engine, claim Google’s hit them with search penalties because they compete with the search giant.  Ciao! from Bing, meanwhile, is upset about AdSense terms and conditions.

These complaints might constitute grounds for a formal antitrust investigation.  Google doesn’t appear too concerned, though.  On the European Public Policy Blog, Julia Holtz, the company’s senior competition counsel, wrote, "Though each case raises slightly different issues, the question they ultimately pose is whether Google is doing anything to choke off competition or hurt our users and partners.  This is not the case."

She then continued, "We always try to listen carefully if someone has a real concern and we work hard to put our users’ interests first and to compete fair and square in the market.  We believe our business practices reflect those commitments."

Holtz also hinted that a certain rival of Google’s might be behind much of this.  Ciao! from Bing is owned by Microsoft, after all, and Foundem belongs to an organization (the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace) that’s sponsored by Microsoft. 

Anyway, no targets or deadlines have been set with regards to when the European Commission will come to some conclusion.

Ciao, which is a Microsoft-owned online network for shoppers, is behind one complaint.  Euro-Cities, which is a mapping site, and publishers’ associations BDZV and VDZ are responsible for the other two.  They’re unhappy about an advertising contract, Google Maps’s lack of fees, and Google News’s use of snippets, respectively.

Kay Oberbeck, a spokesperson for Google Germany, responded by telling the Deutsche Presse-Agentur, "We are very willing to explain our products and business practices to the Cartel Office and show that we are convinced these are in line with German and European law."

Still, no matter how sure Google is of its compliance, the company may be facing an uphill battle.  Earlier this month, Germany’s justice minister alleged, "what’s taking shape there to a large extent is a giant monopoly," and Google’s been treated with hostility many previous times in the country, too.

More information should become available on Wednesday, which is the day the complaints were originally supposed to be made public.

Related Articles:

> German Justice Minister Likens Google To "Giant Monopoly"

> Three More Groups Rally Against Google Books Settlement

> France May Tax Google Ad Revenue

This is the largest purchase Microsoft has made in a while. The company appears to be playing around with the money it had left from the Yahoo deal falling through. They dropped 486 million big ones on this one.

According to ComScore, Ciao has over 26.5 million unique visitors per month, and the site features over 5 million product reviews. Still, there is some question as to why Microsoft would spend such a large amount of money on such a purchase. MG Siegler at Venture Beat writes:

Microsoft’s play here is apparently to become more ingrained in European consumer search and online habits. Going after more shopping traffic seems questionable considering the laughable move it made back in May to pay users to use its Live search engine to look for purchases to make. Given that Microsoft’s search share once again fell last month, it appears that strategy failed, as we thought it would.

Greenfield is not all about shopping search. It is well known for online surveys, but Microsoft is apparently not interested in this division of the company. Microsoft will sell it to an already existent, but unspecified buyer, according to PaidContent.org.

Microsoft says Ciao’s technology platform, online community, and extensive merchant relationships will be integrated within the Live Search platform to deliver a "richer, more rewarding" experience for advertisers and consumers. Microsoft also says its search has three objectives:

- Deliver the best results

– Simplify key tasks

– Innovate in the business model (or simplify how consumers research and purchase online)

"Work is ongoing to ensure that Live Search delivers across all these categories, building on recent progress including the acquisition of Multimap and the decision to open a European Search Technology Centre this financial year," says Microsoft.

Will any of this have a significant effect on Microsoft’s search market share? That remains to be seen, but the general feeling is a skeptical one.