Internet search giant Google Inc faces legal action by European data protection agencies as the company did not obey EU regulations.

Last October, Google was warned by the EU regulators to obey EU's privacy laws within four months or face legal action. But, the Internet search giant failed to comply with the data protection authorities' order.

In a move which underscores social network Facebook's compliance with the December 2011 recommendations of the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), Facebook has recently suspended its facial-recognition tool in Europe.

In a verdict which marked a small victory for Microsoft, a European Union (EU) court Wednesday reduced a long-delayed fine which the software company had to pay for violating antitrust laws.

A Wednesday ruling by the European Patent Office (EPO) went in favor of Nokia and HTC, with the verdict revoking German firm IPCom's patent which was threatening to stall the sales of the handsets of the two companies in Germany.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Apple has written a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute asking it to lay down some specific guidelines that would govern the manner in which patents are licensed by member companies.

In what came as a disquieting surprise for most investors, Internet search giant Google Thursday reported weaker-than-projected results for the 2011 fourth quarter, largely due to lower advertising prices and the debt woes that hit Europe.

European leaders must first use their own financial resources to stem the soverign debt crisis before asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said.