Microsoft will argue that a European Commission proposal that it promote competing browsers in its Windows operating system would strengthen the dominance of its rival Google in the global search-advertising market.
The company will make the argument at a June hearing in Brussels as part of an antitrust inquiry about the packaging of its Internet Explorer browser with Windows, which powers more than 90 percent of the world’s personal computers.
A person with direct knowledge of Microsoft’s legal defense said that Microsoft would use the hearing to outline what it saw as the damaging effects to the search-advertising industry of incorporating competing browsers — like the Firefox from Mozilla or Chrome from Google — into Windows.
Some browser makers, like Mozilla, derive the bulk of their income from the fees they receive from Google and other companies for driving Web traffic to its search engine, which is where Google makes the bulk of its revenue with targeted advertising.
“Not only would Google’s browser Chrome suddenly be on all Windows PCs, but it would strengthen Google’s dominance in search advertising,” said the person, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
Google, in a statement, did not directly respond to Microsoft’s argument.
“We believe more competition will mean greater innovation on the Web and a better user experience for people everywhere,” William Echikson, a Google spokesman in Brussels, said.
By targeting its rival, Microsoft is underscoring the stakes for both U.S. giants, which are increasingly clashing as personal computing moves from software to the Web. Aside from competing in e-mail, online advertising and search, Google now gives away online word processing and business applications which compete with Microsoft products that generate much of the company’s income.
The new European complaint over browsers, like the previous nine- year antitrust case centering on…