Microsoft facing UK antitrust lawsuit from Slack over Teams 'bundling'


FILE PHOTO: A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - ⁠Salesforce and its workspace messaging app ⁠Slack are suing Microsoft at London's ‌High Court over alleged anticompetitive practices relating to its Teams app.

Slack Technologies LLC and related companies filed the ​lawsuit on April 23, which ⁠a Slack spokesperson ⁠said was "because Microsoft's practices harmed competition, using tying ⁠and ‌bundling of Teams to limit customer choice".

Microsoft did not immediately respond ⁠to a request for comment.

Slack had in ​2020 ‌complained to the European Commission, accusing Microsoft ⁠of bundling ​Teams with its Office product to gain an unfair advantage over rivals.

The U.S. software giant ⁠avoided a potentially hefty fine ​by promising reduced prices for Office products excluding Teams in an agreement with the European ⁠Commission last year.

The filing of the lawsuit came in the same week that London's Competition Appeal Tribunal certified a mass lawsuit ​alleging Microsoft overcharged British ⁠businesses to use Windows Server software on cloud ​computing services provided by ‌rivals.

Microsoft disputes the allegations made ​in that case.

(Reporting by Sam TobinEditing by Tomasz JanowskiEditing by Tomasz Janowski)

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