WebProNews

Google's top lawyer raises a monopoly question regarding Microsoft's hostile bid to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion in cash and stock.

Hearing the dominant search and advertising company, on the cusp of adding DoubleClick to its business, complain about Microsoft gaining something of a monopoly online made us chuckle heartily. Even more than Bill Belichick fleeing the field with 0:01 left in the Super Bowl last night (Yay Giants!)

David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, evidently had to spend some of Super Sunday composing a response to the Freaky Friday caused by Microsoft. Google usually does not comment on what the other guys do, but this is a little different than usual.

Drummond brought up Microsoft's less than glowing history of misbehavior in his post on the official Google blog:

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet?

The question needed to be asked, certainly. But for Microsoft to do the things Drummond suggests in his scary scenario would mean hurting the value of Yahoo post-acquisition. Only the most paranoid Microsoft hater envisions a future where access to Yahoo requires IE 8.