Microsoft risks legal action in the UK over cloud computing licenses.
News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 3rd December 2024
Microsoft is facing legal action in the UK over a claim that thousands of businesses utilizing Amazon, Google, and Alibaba’s cloud computing services may be paying higher license fees to utilize Windows Server software. Maria Luisa Stasi, a competition lawyer, filed a lawsuit before the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Tuesday, arguing that British businesses and organisations may be due more than £1 billion ($1.27 billion) 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,” she said.
“By doing so, Microsoft is trying to force customers into using its cloud computing service Azureand restricting competition in the sector.”
Separately, Britain’s competition authority is looking at cloud computing, a field dominated by Amazon’s AWS, Microsoft’s Azure, and, to a lesser extent, Google Cloud Platform. It is looking into Microsoft’s licensing practices, such as those for Windows Server and Microsoft 365.It plans to provide an update on its probe shortly. In 2020, Microsoft released new licensing prices for running its products on key cloud providers. The claim argues that the fees were subsequently used to entice users to utilize its Azure platform.
According to data provided in May by the Competition and Markets Authority, Microsoft has been attracting customers at a considerably higher pace than rival cloud providers after changing its licensing.According to a source familiar with the situation, the US Federal Trade Commission launched a comprehensive antitrust probe into Microsoft last week, including its cloud computing business.
According to reports, the FTC is investigating charges that the software giant may have abused its market strength in productivity software by imposing onerous license terms to discourage consumers from switching from Azure to other platforms.
