Japan’s anti-monopoly watchdog has approved a tie-up between Yahoo Japan and Google but warned it will keep checking for possible violations.
The commission said Thursday it didn’t see any problems as long as the two companies continued to be separate and offered distinctive services.
Yahoo Japan has said it plans to launch a search service using Google’s search and advertising technology here by the end of this year.
Online shopping mall operator Rakuten and Microsoft have both filed petitions with the commission to further investigate the search engine technology tie-up plan.
Microsoft condemned the deal and said it would result in Google gaining nearly complete control over search and search advertising in Japan through contract, not organic growth.
The tie-up comes one and a half years after Yahoo and Microsoft announced a 10-year search deal under which Microsoft will power Yahoo’s search site while Yahoo will manage the sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.
Yahoo Japan has more than a 50 percent share of the Japanese Internet search services market, and Google around 40 percent, according to Japanese research firm Video Research Interactive.
“If we encounter any concrete facts that may violate antitrust rules, we will conduct an investigation,” the commission said in its statement.
The green light in Japan followed news earlier in the week that the European Commission had opened an antitrust investigation into allegations that Google abused its dominant position in online search.
The commission received complaints from other Internet search providers that Google abused its dominant market position by allegedly placing their services lower in results rankings, while Google’s own services were given preferential placing.
Google said Tuesday it would work with the European Commission “to address any concerns.”
