Developers working on applications for a Yahoo “build your own search engine” project are talking to the US Justice department over the search engines deal with Microsoft.

In July 2008, Yahoo announced a product called BOSS, or "Build Your Own Search Service" that lets developers tap into Yahoo's core search index.

Now the future of BOSS is uncertain after Microsoft and Yahoo signed their anti-Google search deal and developers who have built projects on the BOSS APIs, some of whom are building businesses off of the service are really miffed.

After being ignored by Yahoo and Microsoft some BOSS developers are taking action: they've scheduled a conference call with the Department of Justice to discuss their concerns.

Google and Bing both offer APIs, but they limit monetisation options and limit the ways developers can change the way their search results are presented. BOSS on the other hand is fairly open. The DOJ said it will hold a conference call with any concerned developers.