Microsoft Says Google Blocks Competition in Europe Search Market PLAY

This is VOA Special English Economics Report. PLAY

Microsoft has fought legal battles with officials in Europe and the United States over competition in the personal computer market. PLAY

But at the end of March, Microsoft accused Google of being anti-competitive. PLAY

A complaint to the European Commission accused Google of unfairly controlling the Internet search market in Europe. PLAY

Google was already talking to the Commission about the issue and said it was happy to explain to anyone how its business works. PLAY

But Google also faced other issues. PLAY

Gmail users in China began reporting problems with Google’s email service in late February. PLAY

The problem came as news of the revolution in the Arab world filled the Internet and there were online calls for protests in China. PLAY

Google said the government was interfering with its email service. PLAY

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokewoman Jiang Yu called those accusations unacceptable. PLAY

But Google spokewoman Jessica Powell said, “This is a government blockage, carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail.” PLAY

Google is the world leader in Internet search. PLAY

But in China the biggest search engine is Baidu. PLAY

And in the late March, Chinese’s largest Internet media company, Sina, dropped Google’s search engine from its website. PLAY

Sina said it would use its own technology. PLAY

And estimated four hundred fifty million Chinese are online – about half of all Internet users in Asia. PLAY

In two thousand ten, Google said, a cyberattack from China had attempted to get the information from the Gmail accounts of human rights activists. PLAY

Google also express concerns about censorship. PLAY

So Google relocated its Chinese search engine from the mainland to Hong Kong. PLAY

In March, Google also faced new problems at home. PLAY

A federal judge in New York ruled against its plan to put millions of books online. PLAY

Google wants to create a digital library of all the world’s books. PLAY

It reached one hundred twenty five million dollar in two thousand eight with groups representing writers and publishers. PLAY

Google agreed to create a system to pay copyright holders when their works are used online. PLAY

But judge Denny Chin rejected the proposed settlement. PLAY

He said it would give Google monopoly control of the book search market. PLAY

But he left open the possibility for a new plan. PLAY

On a similar issue, Baidu in China said it removed almost three millions documents from its library. PLAY

Writers have complained that Baidu would not have permission for their works to appear on its document-sharing sites. PLAY

For VOA Special English, I’m Alex Villarreal. PLAY

You can read and listen to our program about business and other subjects at voaspeacialenglish.com. PLAY

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