(Telecompaper) Microsoft and Google have agreed a regulatory truce, dropping complaints against each other around the world, including in the European Union, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and India. The truce was ordered by the companies' chief executives, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Sundar Pichai of Google, people close to the companies told the Wall Street Journal. "Our companies compete vigorously, but we want to do so on the merits of our products, not in legal proceedings," said a Google spokesperson. "As a result, following our patent agreement, we've now agreed to withdraw regulatory complaints against one another." Last September, the companies agreed to dismiss nearly 20 patent-related lawsuits between them, and in November, Microsoft dropped out of FairSearch, a group of technology firms that lobbied against Google's dominance in the search market.