Unhappy Easter as Microsoft hit by €9 million anticompetitive fine

by Stevie Smith - Apr 13 2009, 15:45

After recently suffering the costly indignation of losing a patent infringement battle with Uniloc, which resulted in monetary damages of $388 million USD, Microsoft Corp. similarly entered the Easter weekend facing a further fine in the region of $12 million USD.

Microsoft. Because price fixing never goes out of style. Image: Jeff.Dlouhy/Flickr.

This time targeted for anticompetitive practices by regulators in Europe, the Redmond-based software titan’s German subsidiary has been slapped for a total of €9 million Euros ($11.8 million USD), after the German Bundeskartellamt revealed Microsoft to be guilty of influencing the price of its Office productivity suite.According to a statement released by the economic regulator, Microsoft and an unnamed retail stockist had colluded more than once on the fixing of regional prices for the Office Home & Student 2007 software package.“Not every contact between supplier and retailer regarding resale prices constitutes an illegal concerted practice,” outlined the Bundeskartellamt’s statement. [But such contact] must not lead to a form of coordination where the supplier actively tries to coordinate the pricing activities of the retailer and thus [the] the retailer and supplier agree on future actions of the retailer.” “In the present case, this boundary has been crossed,” concluded the regulatory body.Choosing to avoid lodging an appeal against the fine, Microsoft has said it will use the case to review its internal commercial processes and ensure it remains in full compliance with German law in the future.Want regular updates from The Tech Herald? Follow us on Twitter.The Tech Herald: Microsoft loses Uniloc patent case and $388 million

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Unhappy Easter as Microsoft hit by €9 million anticompetitive fine

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