Microsoft’s new search service is about to test new social and legal limits in its presentation of video clips as the software company races to find new and innovative ways to outmanoeuvre Google, according to legal and technology experts.

Among the most striking features of the Bing service, launched on Monday, are small, “thumbnail”-sized video clips that play automatically when a cursor hovers over them. As a result, users do not have to leave the results page to get a taste of what is on a destination site.