Microsoft is being sued in the United Kingdom for more than £1 billion (about 1.18 billion euros) for allegedly overcharging companies for Windows Server licenses used on competing cloud platforms.
This reports The Register. The lawsuit is before the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal. Competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi of the law firm Scott+Scott is handling the case. The substance of the case involves thousands of British companies and organizations that allegedly overpaid Microsoft. And did so when purchasing Windows Server licenses on AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Alibaba Cloud. According to the plaintiffs, £1 billion is the amount the affected companies should collectively receive in compensation.
“Put simply, Microsoft is punishing UK businesses and organisations for using Google, Amazon and Alibaba for cloud computing by forcing them to pay more money for Windows Server,” said lawyer Stasi.
Significant price increases
A spokesman for Scott+Scott indicated that specific details about the additional costs are not currently available because the case is still pending before the Tribunal. Still, the firm’s statement mentions that the price increases were significant. A small business would pay more for a Windows Server license on AWS, GCP, or Alibaba than on Microsoft’s own Azure service.
“This lawsuit aims to challenge Microsoft’s anti-competitive behaviour, push them to reveal exactly how much businesses in the UK have been illegally penalised, and return the money to organisations that have been unfairly overcharged,” Stasi added.
Abuse of market dominance
Scott+Scott further explained that Microsoft is aware of British companies’ dependence on products such as Windows Server. It uses this market dominance to charge higher prices to customers who refuse to switch to Microsoft’s services.
“Microsoft is by far the dominant player in desktop operating systems with a market share of between 70-80%,” the firm said. It relies on data from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).