The top antitrust official at the US Justice Department last month backed Microsoft Corp by urging state prosecutors to reject a confidential complaint filed by Google Inc, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

Google accused Microsoft of designing its Vista operating system to discourage use of Google's desktop search program, according to a Microsoft spokesman.

The complaint is tied to a consent decree that monitors Microsoft's behavior as part of its landmark 2002 antitrust settlement with the US government.

The latest legal wranglings demonstrate the intensity of the growing competition between Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, and Google, the leader in Web search and a provider of software applications run over the Internet.

State officials told the newspaper that a memo by Thomas Barnett, an assistant attorney-general, rejected the Google complaint, repeating legal arguments made by Microsoft.

Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said the company was notified in December that a complaint was filed with the Justice Department regarding desktop search in Windows Vista. Microsoft was told it was filed by Google, according to Evans, who said the company has not yet seen the complaint.

"While we don't believe there are any compliance concerns with desktop search, we are committed to going the extra mile to resolve this issue," Microsoft said in an e-mail statement.

The New York Times article said the memo was sent to state attorneys general around the United States and alarmed many of them, with some state officials saying they believed Google's complaint had merit.

The newspaper said the action demonstrates that nearly a decade after the US government began its landmark effort to break up Microsoft, the Bush administration has changed course by defending the company against accusations of anti-competitive conduct.

Source: China Daily/Agencies