Microsoft – A class action lawsuit has been filed in the UK against it for £1 billion (roughly $1.25 billion). It alleges that Microsoft has overpriced the companies for the Windows Server Licenses. Primarily, in this case, it has been said that businesses like Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Alibaba Cloud were charged more, while companies less used in that context by such services like Azure, had lesser norms as compared to them.
Investigations are increasingly directed towards cloud computing practices. In a report last week, Reuters said the Federal Trade Commission in the US has initiated a sweeping antitrust investigation into the company’s practices related to software licensing and cloud computing.
As such, investigation from European regulatory circles is also increasing towards cloud giants. In October, about turning up their scrutiny, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority began a market probe into cloud computing, which had been spurred by some findings raised in an Ofcom study carried out in April 2023. The lawsuit against Microsoft about discounting, however, was initiated by plaintiffs even in the course of the CMA investigation.
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The plaintiffs cite the value of €20 million that Microsoft had settled with the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) in July. This settlement resulted in an EU antitrust complaint settled in November 2022 and acts as proof of Microsoft’s historical settlements over similar practices in Europe.
The CMA has extended the deadline of its investigation last September, however, the lawsuit continues despite the findings of the CMA.