It would also be impossible for Microsoft to use the copied results as a basis for reverse-engineering Google's secret search algorithms, those people said. Plus, ultimately, Microsoft probably isn't interested in having a search engine that acts exactly like Google's anyway, they said.

"This whole thing is a little silly," said Gord Hotchkiss, senior vice president at digital marketing provider .

This week, Google loudly published the findings of an internal investigation that it said proved that Microsoft, using its Internet Explorer browser and Bing toolbar, collected data about its users' Google search queries and the results they produced.

Google characterized the practice as cheating. Microsoft responded that end users allow it to collect that data, and that the information it collects is one of more than a thousand other "signals" it uses to refine its search results.

The vociferous debate has played out since Tuesday in the media, on stage at a Microsoft-sponsored search event and through multiple posts on Google and Microsoft blogs.