Microsoft 'cooperating' with Japanese antitrust probe

It looks like the same cloudy software licenses that offend Europe may be in play – along with a cute little monster

Microsoft is "fully cooperating" with a probe by Japan's Fair Trade Commission, which wants to know if the software giant has violated the nation's anti-monopoly laws.

News of the probe broke yesterday in Japanese outlet Nikkei, which reported a raid on Microsoft's Japanese office.

The Register asked Microsoft to comment on the matter, and a spokesperson told us: "We are fully cooperating with the JFTC in their requests."

According to Nikkei, those requests relate to the way Microsoft licenses its software to run on clouds other than its own Azure service.

In other parts of the world, Microsoft has offered deep discounts for its own software – especially Windows Server and SQL Server – when users deploy it on Azure but effectively charges more to run it in rivals' clouds.

Those practices earned the company critical attention from regulators in the UK, Europe, and the USA.

Microsoft changed its ways in Europe, but not enough for Google which continues to press for further changes. The matter remains unresolved in the UK and USA. Whether that's due to regulators moving slowly, or Microsoft making persuasive arguments that put it in the clear, is uncertain.

Japan's Fair Trade Commission has form going after Big Tech companies, recently following other nations by requiring Apple and Google to open their app stores to third parties, and also tackling Google for forcing makers of Android handsets to include its apps.

Japanese regulators last year also expressed displeasure when OpenAI's Sora2 video generator ripped off local anime production hero Studio Ghibli.

Japan's initiatives have not matched the European Union's strong regulation of social media and e-commerce companies, which the Trump administration has painted as an unfair trade practice. ®

Bootnote

Japan's Fair Trade Commission has a cute mascot called "Dokkin" and the agency says it uses a "Dokkin Scope" to find violations of the Antimonopoly Act. When Dokkin succeeds, its heart lights up.

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