Google will resolve a 20-month antitrust probe by U.S. regulators shortly with a voluntary agreement and a consent decree on the company’s alleged misuse of patents, three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg news.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is poised to announce that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has agreed to voluntarily change some business practices and settle allegations it misused patents to thwart competitors in smartphone technology, said the people, who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t public.

The decision comes despite a last-second call from Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) calling for action against Google.

The FTC is expected to close its investigation into whether Google, operator of the world’s most popular search engine, skews its search results to favor its own services without enforcement action, the people said. The FTC’s decision not to take action is a blow to competitors including Microsoft, Yelp Inc. and Expedia Inc. and comes at a time when the European Union is seeking a “detailed commitment” on search to end its probe into allegations that Google discriminates against rivals.

As part of its voluntary concessions, Google will make changes in the way it uses content from other websites and allow advertisers to export data to other platforms, the people said.

Peter Kaplan, a spokesman for the FTC, and Niki Fenwick, a Google spokeswoman, declined to comment on the resolution of the probe.

Google Opponents

The expected FTC decision was drawing criticism from Google opponents, including the FairSearch.org coalition, an alliance that includes Microsoft and Expedia.

“If the FTC fails to take decisive action to end Google’s anti-competitive practices, and locks itself out of any remedies to Google’s conduct that are offered in Europe later this month, the FTC will have acted prematurely and failed in its mission of protecting America’s consumers,” according to a FairSearch.org blogpost published yesterday.

Microsoft laid out its arguments in a blog post Wednesday by Dave Heiner, the software maker’s deputy general counsel.

“We continue to be dogged by an issue we had hoped would be resolved by now: Google continues to prevent Microsoft from offering consumers a fully featured YouTube app for the Windows Phone,” Heiner wrote.

Heiner mostly rehashed familiar ground while depicting Google as a company that has abused its dominance of Internet search and leadership in online video to thwart its rivals to the detriment of consumers.

“Two years ago, Microsoft applauded the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission when they opened their antitrust investigations into Google’s business practices. We believed then, as we do now, that the future of competition in search is at stake in these investigations,” he wrote.

“This is important not just for Microsoft, but for the thousands of smaller companies whose businesses depend on a competitive search marketplace. That is why so many companies have made their concerns about Google’s misconduct known to regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.”

(The AP and Bloomberg contributed to this report.)