Score one for Google. The tech giant has just won a major victory in a lawsuit against the U.S. Interior Department. In November, Google sued the U.S. government after the U.S. Interior Department issued a Request for Quotation for a revamped e-mail system that Google argues improperly favored rival Microsoft in its contract bidding process.

This week, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the U.S. Interior Department from using Microsoft technology in its migration to Web-based applications software, and to hold off on a request for a bid to upgrade its email system.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, “A spokesman for Google, which filed the suit in October of last year, said in a statement: “As a proponent of open competition on the Internet and in the technology sector in general, we're pleased with the court's decision.”

Although the lawsuit still has a long way to go, and the U.S. Interior Department could appeal the court’s decision, the injunction represents a preliminary victory for Google.

Yet the U.S. Interior Department isn’t the only government agency to apparently snub Google. In December, TechZone360.com reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it was moving 12,000 of its employees onto e-mail, Web conferencing and messaging systems provided via the Internet by Microsoft. According to the USDA, this move to the cloud is a part of a deal the agency signed with Dell in May to provide online services from Microsoft. The agency has been working with the two companies for the past year on the project, which is worth $27 million over three years and is expected to save the USDA about $6 million per year.

In October, Google reported revenues of $7.29 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2010, an increase of 23 percent compared to the third quarter of 2009. Google-owned sites generated revenues of $4.83 billion, or 67 percent of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2010. This represents a 22 percent increase over third quarter 2009 revenues of $3.96 billion. And Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $2.20 billion, or 30 percent of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2010.