14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's fight against companies allegedly selling illegal software has gone sour. Back in May 2008, the Redmond company announced a lawsuit against HW Trading BV and its principal, Samir Abdalla, as an integral part of its strategy to tackle illegal software products sales. Nevertheless, Samir Abdalla is now firing back at the software giant, upping the stakes with an antitrust complaint filed with the European Commission.
In this broad antitrust complaint filed with the antitrust regulators in the EU, Abdalla accuses Microsoft of discriminating between U.S. and European consumers, by selling European users products considerably more expensive compared to the prices tailored to American customers.
In this manner, Abdalla is pointing the finger at Microsoft, claiming that the company violates EU treaties. The complaint will be handled by the Directorate General for Competition under the helm of Neelie Kroes, an EU antitrust commissioner, which has already slapped Microsoft with multi-billion dollars worth of financial penalties for failing to abide with the European anti-monopoly laws, and then failing to comply with the regulators' decision.
Gerard van der Wal, a Houthoff attorney, representing Abdalla, revealed to Webwereld that the complaint revolved around Microsoft allegedly infringing articles 81 and 82 of the European Treaty. Van der Wal pointed out that Microsoft was not only abusing its dominant position on the market, but also worked to limit competition.
Abdalla's complaint brought to the attention of the EU antitrust Commission the fact that Microsoft charged European customers anywhere from 30% to 50% more for the software products sold across the Atlantic, compared to the U.S. market. According to Abdalla, Microsoft was attempting to block what he referred to as the legal trade in grey software, that the company was forbidding distributors to offer customers media with the software they purchase, and that the Redmond giant even refused to sell its products to certain resellers.
In the May 2008 legal action debuted against HW Trading BV and Samir Abdalla, Microsoft alleged that $3.7 million had been illegally obtained for sales involving Windows XP and Office 2003, which was purchased in Egypt and resold in the U.S., a practice referred to as dealing in grey software.