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Though it's no guarantee that the Department of Justice will take the companies to court over the deal for Google to broker Yahoo's search advertising, the hiring of hotshot litigator Sanford Litvack is a sign that the investigation is getting serious. After all, David Boies was hired by the DOJ in 1998 to press the agency's case against Microsoft. And now that it's not just competitors like Team Redmond but customers complaining about the deal, there's more incentive for the government to intervene. Of course, Google fans can look at this as something of an achievement — it took Microsoft twenty years to draw attention from government regulators concerned about monopolistic practices. Team Mountain View has done it in only half the time! (Photo by AP/Kevin Heslin)