14 DAY TRIAL // China is now conducting an anti-trust probe on Microsoft and according to new information that emerged today, the company is collaborating with local officials to address all claims and provide the necessary data to escape without a fine.
What’s more interesting, however, is that Internet Explorer appears to be the cause of the investigation, with a report by The Inquirer revealing that Chinese prosecutors are upset with the way Microsoft bundled its browser and media player in the operating system.
Little is known so far, but China’s anti-trust body says that Microsoft failed to provide full transparency regarding its software sales in the country, but is now cooperating with officials to complete the investigations. Results will be provided to the media in a timely fashion, Zhang Mao, the head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, says.
This isn’t the first time when Microsoft is pushed into an anti-trust probe because of Internet Explorer and the company even received a hefty fine in Europe after failing to comply with anti-trust regulations on the Old Continent.
Back in 2009, the European Commission asked Microsoft to implement a browser choice screen in Windows that allowed user to choose the application they wanted to surf the web, other than Internet Explorer.
Redmond obviously complied with this requirement, but in February 2011 the browser choice screen was removed due to a faulty update, leading to a period of 14 months during which users in Europe had no other choice than to install Internet Explorer.
Microsoft acknowledged the error and although it promised to fix the issue, it took longer than expected, so the European Commission decided to fine the company about $730 million (€553 million) for failing to honor the 2009 agreement.
“In 2009, we closed our investigation about a suspected abuse of dominant position by Microsoft due to the tying of Internet Explorer to Windows by accepting commitments offered by the company,” Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy, Joaquín Almunia, said.
“Legally binding commitments reached in antitrust decisions play a very important role in our enforcement policy because they allow for rapid solutions to competition problems. Of course, such decisions require strict compliance. A failure to comply is a very serious infringement that must be sanctioned accordingly.”
Microsoft hasn’t yet issued a statement on the new investigation taking place in China, but the company is treating this matter very seriously, so expect its spokespersons to remain tight-lipped for the time being.