Microsoft fights $2.8 billion UK lawsuit over cloud computing licences

Microsoft was on Thursday accused of overcharging hundreds of British companies to make use of Windows Server software program on cloud computing providers offered by Amazon, Google and Alibaba, at a pivotal listening to in a 2.1 billion-pound ($2.81 billion) lawsuit.

Regulators in Britain, Europe and the United States have individually begun inspecting Microsoft and others’ practices in relation to cloud computing.

Competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi is bringing the case on behalf of almost 60,000 companies that use the Windows Server on rival cloud platforms, arguing Microsoft makes it dearer than by itself cloud computing service Azure.

Stasi is asking London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal to certify the case to proceed, an early step within the proceedings.

Microsoft, nevertheless, says Stasi’s case doesn’t set out a correct blueprint for a way the tribunal will work out any alleged losses and needs to be thrown out.

MICROSOFT ACCUSED OF ‘ABUSIVE STRATEGY’

Stasi’s lawyer Sarah Ford advised the tribunal that hundreds of companies had been overcharged as a result of Microsoft expenses increased costs to those that don’t use Azure, making it a less expensive choice than Amazon’s AWS or the Google Cloud Platform.

She additionally mentioned that “Microsoft degrades the user experience of Windows Server” on rival platforms, which Ford mentioned was a part of “a coherent abusive strategy to leverage Microsoft’s dominant position” within the cloud computing market.

Microsoft argues that its vertically built-in enterprise, the place it makes use of Windows Server as an enter for Azure whereas additionally licensing it to rivals, can profit competitors.

In July, an inquiry group from Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority mentioned Microsoft’s licensing practices decreased competitors for cloud providers “by materially disadvantaging AWS and Google”.

Microsoft mentioned on the time that the group’s report had ignored that “the cloud market has never been so dynamic and competitive”.