NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft Corp. and four other large American technology companies are using a Manhattan court case to draw a line in the cloud, saying the U.S. government has no right to seize computer data stored outside the country.

U.S. companies that host services over the Internet and sell remote data storage — a concept broadly known as “cloud computing” — say they stand to lose billions of dollars in business if emails and other files they house overseas are seen vulnerable to U.S. snooping.