On Thursday, Alfaview, which is a German software company, filed an EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft, the US software giant over its bundling of video app Teams into its Office product.
Based in Karlsruhe in south-western Germany, Alfaview said it had filed a similar complaint to the European Commission.
The German company said that bundling both products together gives Teams a unique competitive advantage that is not justified by performance and which rivals cannot match.
Microsoft added Teams to Office 365 in 2017 for free, with the app eventually replacing Skype for Business.
Microsoft has been on the EU competition enforcer’s radar since 2020, when Slack, a Salesforce-owned workspace messaging app, complained about the tying of Teams with Office.
Niko Fostiropoulos, its managing director and founder stated, “Tying Teams with the other applications in the Microsoft 365 suite creates a multipolar distribution advantage for the U.S. group,”
According to alfaview, this has significant and permanent impact on competition in the communication software market.
The Commission is set to launch an investigation into the move after Microsoft’s remedies fell short, a Reuters report said earlier this month.
According to Microsoft,”We continue to engage cooperatively with the Commission in its investigation and are open to pragmatic solutions that address its concerns and serve customers well.”
Alfaview urged the EU antitrust watchdog to open a formal probe, saying remedies offered by its US rival to the Commission were insufficient.