Both Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo and Mountain View, California-based Google are holding ongoing talks with the United States Justice Department seeking to halt an antitrust challenge that could block their  proposed search advertising partnership, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing unnamed lawyers involved in the discussions. The proposed agreement, which could extend as long as a decade should all optional renewals take place, would allow leading search engine firm Google to provide ads alongside search results from the second most popular search engine firm Yahoo, as well as on some of its United States and Canada Web properties. The talks aim to resolve Justice Department antitrust concerns while preserving a deal that would be in the best interest of both Yahoo and Google, the report noted. Both Internet firms have considered concessions including a limit to the number of Google ads Yahoo would display, various oversight and reporting schemes, and other measures to keep advertiser costs from rising should the agreement receive approval, the report noted. The nonexclusive search advertising deal would place ads from Yahoo and Google into online auctions that other firms would be open to take part in. Google has said that it believed the partnership with Yahoo would be "good for competition" and "benefit advertisers, Web site publishers and consumers." Earlier this month the proposed partnership drew a call for increased scrutiny from U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee chairman Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl. Related Links :
| 
