The world truly is on its head these days. Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel Brad Smith said in a blog post that his company is filing a “formal complaint with the European commission” against Google, alleging Google has violated European competition law.

[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]That’s right. Microsoft is complaining that someone else is guilty of violating antitrust legislation.

Microsoft claims that Google owns about 95 percent of the search market in Europe. “This contrasts with the United States, where Microsoft serves about a quarter of Americans’ search needs either directly through Bing or through our partnership with Yahoo!,” wrote Smith.

Smith laid out the framework for his case by citing half a dozen examples where Microsoft thinks Google isn’t playing fair: putting up restrictions in how search engines like Bing can access YouTube content, for example; blocking Windows Phone 7-equipped devices from “operating properly with YouTube;” blocking access to content owned by book publishers; restricting customer access to their own data, and more.

Even Smith recognizes the irony of Microsoft filing antitrust legislation.

“Having spent more than a decade wearing the shoe on the other foot with the European Commission, the filing of a formal antitrust complaint is not something we take lightly. This is the first time Microsoft Corporation has ever taken this step,” he said.

(Hat tip: ZDNet)