Last year, Microsoft and Google agreed to drop 20 long-standing patent disputes against each other in the US and Germany, and said that they anticipated "working together in other areas in the future to benefit our customers."
Even so, both companies continued to maintain regulatory complaints against one another - until now.
Microsoft and Google have now reached an agreement to drop all outstanding regulatory complaints each other around the world. In a statement to Re/code, a Microsoft spokesperson said:
Microsoft has agreed to withdraw its regulatory complaints against Google, reflecting our changing legal priorities. We will continue to focus on competing vigorously for business and for customers.
Google also acknowledged the agreement, adding:
Our companies compete vigorously, but we want to do so on the merits of our products, not in legal proceedings.
Earlier this week, European regulators formally accused Google of "abusing its dominant position" in the EU mobile market with Android, but the timing of today"s announcement is apparently coincidental, as both companies say that they"ve been in talks to drop their mutual complaints since before those charges were filed.
According to The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed source, Microsoft and Google "have agreed to talk to each other first in the future", and will apparently now consider complaints to regulators only as a last resort.
Source: Re/code