Microsoft defies Google, WP YouTube app still available

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A week ago Google sent Microsoft a Cease and Desist letter demanding Microsoft remove the Microsoft-authored Windows Phone YouTube app on the 22nd, saying Microsoft should:

"immediately withdraw this (YouTube) application from the Windows Phone Store and disable existing downloads of the application by Wednesday, May 22, 2013."

Its been a week, and today is the 22nd of May and a cursory check at the YouTube app page in the Windows Phone Store shows Microsoft is still offering the app to its Windows Phone users.

Even yesterday Microsoft was still sending the same statement to Wired, saying:

YouTube is consistently one of the top apps downloaded by smartphone users on all platforms, but Google has refused to work with us to develop an app on par with other platforms. Since we updated the YouTube app to ensure our mutual customers a similar YouTube experience, ratings and feedback have been overwhelmingly positive. We’d be more than happy to include advertising but need Google to provide us access to the necessary APIs. In light of Larry Page’s comments calling for more interoperability and less negativity, we look forward to solving this matter together for our mutual customers.”

The intransigence clearly signals that Microsoft is intending to have their day in court, with the company, who has on numerous occasions been forced to make their protocols public due to monopoly concerns, hoping the courts will for once side with them.

Do our readers think Microsoft can win this skirmish? Let us know below.

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