Microsoft could pay up to $1.27 billion for overcharging its own customers who use rival cloud
Another one? Really, Microsoft?
2 min. read
Published on
Share this article
Improve this guide
Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser sustain the editorial team Read more
Key notes
- Microsoft is facing a $1.27 billion lawsuit in the UK for allegedly overcharging rival cloud platform users.
- The lawsuit claims Microsoft imposes higher fees for running its Windows Server on non-Azure platforms.
- This follows scrutiny from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and a $21.7 million settlement with CISPE.
Microsoft is facing a $1.27 billion lawsuit in the UK for allegedly overcharging customers who use rival cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud.
The lawsuit, filed by the New York-based Scott+Scott firm on behalf of several businesses, claims that Microsoft forces UK businesses to pay higher fees for licensing Microsoft’s Windows Server software on non-Azure platforms compared to running it on Azure, Microsoft’s own cloud service.
This legal challenge comes amid ongoing scrutiny from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is investigating potential antitrust issues in the cloud computing sector. The Redmond tech giant also faced scrutiny in the past from the British authority over acqui-hiring AI company Inflection.
Google, Microsoft’s number-one rival in its cloud business, also filed a complaint with the European Commission against the Windows makers regarding the same issue. The Mountain View tech giant said that Microsoft has been exploiting the Windows Server to prevent competition by imposing a 400% mark-up on users who want to run the Server on rival cloud platforms.
The US’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has previously opened a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft, focusing on its software licensing and cloud services.
The probe examines whether Microsoft is abusing its market power by imposing restrictive licensing terms that lock customers into its Azure cloud service, preventing them from switching to competitors.
The British lawsuit follows up on Microsoft’s previous €20 million ($21.7 million) settlement with the cloud services organization CISPE this summer.
The settlement was reached to resolve an antitrust complaint regarding its cloud computing licensing practices, avoiding an EU investigation and potential fines. Shortly after, The Register exclusively revealed that Microsoft’s rival Google offered millions of euros in financial incentives to CISPE in an attempt to continue the legal battle despite CISPE’s decision to settle.
User forum
0 messages