Trade association CISPE files EU competition complaint against Microsoft

Trade group CISPE, which includes Amazon, has filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft before the European Commission. The group accused the tech giant of having anti-competitive cloud computing practices. 

As reported by Reuters, CISPE claims that changes in contractual terms, which the company imposed on October 1, and other practices have a negative impact on the European cloud computing ecosystem.

CISPE secretary general Francisco Mingorance wrote in the complaint that Microsoft abuses its market dominance in office productivity software. More European customers are seeking to move to cloud computing. Armed with this fact, the company restricts user choice and hides the true cost of the products, which leads to distortion of Europe's digital economy. 

Microsoft was also the subject of earlier antitrust complaints by a set of cloud service providers in Germany, Italy, Denmark and France, two of whom are CISPE member companies. 

Microsoft has amended its licensing agreements and revised its practices in an effort to settle the proceedings. The changes that came into force on October 1 were aimed at cultivating healthy competition in the cloud computing market. 

However, such competitors as Amazon.com, Google Alphabet, Alibaba, and Microsoft's own cloud services were not affected by the actions. 

CISPE is asking the European Commission to investigate Microsoft’s anti-competitive practices and apply principles of fair software licensing developed for Microsoft last year.