Google sues the European Union, accusing Microsoft of anti-competitive behavior in the cloud computing market
Google has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the European Commission, accusing Microsoft of unfair licensing practices in its Azure cloud computing services. The complaint alleges that Microsoft's Azure licenses make it harder for customers to migrate to other competing services, such as Google Cloud. This lawsuit marks Google's latest counterattack against Microsoft's licensing practices. In July of this year, it was reported that in order to prevent an antitrust settlement with Microsoft, the company offered a deal worth approximately 470 million euros (equivalent to 512 million US dollars) to a group of European cloud computing companies. It is reported that the agreement reached between the European Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) and Microsoft resolves issues related to unfair software licensing practices involving cloud infrastructure providers and their customers. This agreement exempts Microsoft from fines and further EU investigations. Microsoft has stated that it expects Google's antitrust lawsuit against the European Commission to end in failure, noting that it has reached a similar settlement with CISPE
According to the information from Zhitong Finance APP, Google (GOOGL.US) has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the European Commission, accusing Microsoft (MSFT.US) of unfair licensing practices in its Azure cloud computing services.
The lawsuit alleges that Microsoft's Azure licenses make it more difficult for customers to migrate to other competing services, such as Google Cloud.
This lawsuit marks Google's latest counterattack against Microsoft's licensing practices. In July of this year, it was reported that in order to prevent an antitrust settlement with Microsoft, the company offered a deal worth approximately 470 million euros (equivalent to 512 million US dollars) to a group of European cloud computing companies. It is reported that the European Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) reached an agreement with Microsoft to address issues related to unfair software licensing with cloud infrastructure providers and their customers. This agreement exempts Microsoft from fines and further EU investigations.
Microsoft has stated that it expects Google's antitrust lawsuit against the European Commission to end in failure, and has pointed out that it has reached a similar settlement with CISPE