Here’s an idea for Google’s next TV ad: how the search engine can help find a corporate lawyer in Brussels.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that in the tit-for-tat corporate battle between Google and Microsoft, the latest tactic is a complaint to the European Commission. Microsoft, which is behind at least one of the complaints about Google now being reviewed, knows full well the impact of a European inquiry.

After all, for the better part of two decades, Microsoft has been subject to inquiries by European antitrust regulators concerned about its bundling of products like Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system. The outcome has been heavy fines and Microsoft’s agreement to change certain business practices. Microsoft agreed, for instance, to ship its Windows 7 operating system in Europe with at least 10 Internet browsers.

That settlement occurred even as Microsoft’s share of the browser market is declining. Then there is the toll on management’s time that these inquiries take. It doesn’t help that Google already is facing U.S. regulatory scrutiny over its book-digitization project and its proposed purchase of a mobile-ad firm.

Still, investors needn’t be too rattled just yet. Yes, Google clearly has a dominant share of the European search market, with 78.9% in January, according to comScore, more than a dozen percentage points above its U.S. share. But simply having a dominant share isn’t illegal, even in Europe. And the inquiry at this point is preliminary.

What is more, it may help Google that Microsoft is responsible for one of the complaints.

Knowing Microsoft’s history, regulators may be a little skeptical.

The two companies are going head to head on everything from search, office applications software like email and word processing, mobile and even computer operating systems.

Of course, in the 1990s Microsoft blamed its competitors for the antitrust inquiries it endured, an excuse that clearly didn’t wash then. While inquiries in themselves won’t derail Google, investors shouldn’t ignore their ability to crimp a company’s room for maneuver.

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