Microsoft is facing a £1 billion lawsuit from thousands of UK businesses, claiming they were overcharged for using Windows Server software in rival cloud environments. This legal action has been brought by competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi and her team at Scott+Scott, a firm that specializes in complex disputes, and they filed the case with the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal.
The lawsuit alleges that UK companies may be owed substantial compensation due to Microsoft’s licensing tactics, which have raised eyebrows among competition regulators and trade organizations in the UK and Europe. Stasi’s team argues that firms were charged higher fees for running Windows Server on major cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Alibaba Cloud than they would if using Microsoft’s own Azure service.
Stasi stated that all UK businesses that purchased Windows Server licenses through AWS, Google Cloud, or Alibaba Cloud might have been overcharged and will be part of this collective action unless they opt out. This type of collective action allows the lawsuit to move forward without needing individual consent from each affected business first.
Stasi claimed this lawsuit seeks to challenge what she describes as Microsoft’s anti-competitive behavior. “Microsoft is punishing UK businesses for choosing other cloud providers,” she said, adding that this practice unfairly inflates costs and restricts competition. The aim is to expose how much UK businesses have been illegally charged and to reclaim those funds.
When approached for comment, Microsoft declined to respond. James Hain-Cole, a partner at Scott+Scott, expressed pride in supporting Stasi’s efforts to obtain compensation for those impacted and hold Microsoft accountable. He emphasized that collective actions empower organizations to confront anti-competitive practices from large corporations.
This legal development follows a complaint Google filed with the European Commission regarding Microsoft’s cloud licensing and comes on the heels of Microsoft’s $22 million settlement with the Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE), which resolved a similar issue.