A prominent antitrust lawyer predicts that Microsoft and Yahoo's new partnership won't pass muster with government regulators because it would narrow search competition.

Matthew Cantor, a partner at Constantine Cannon LLP in New York, said that when Yahoo's own search tool disappears, only two major search engines will remain -- Google and Microsoft's Bing.

"I obviously can't predict with certainty how the DOJ will react to it, but I think there's a very good chance it will force [Microsoft and Yahoo] to modify the deal at the very least if they do not block it outright," said Cantor, who has litigated several major antitrust cases. "Even though it's a partnership, it will be evaluated like a merger ... because Yahoo ceases to be a competitor in search. Yahoo is going to use Bing technology for their sites. I think there's no question the DOJ will come to the conclusion that the deal is anticompetitive."

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