FTC may probe on Microsoft Korea
By Kim Yoo-chul
Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is considering probing Microsoft Korea for allegedly violating antitrust regulations, sources said, Tuesday.
The latest moves by the country’s top antitrust watchdog came as the government agency is squeezing leading technology firms such as Qualcomm and Google, which have operations here.
“FTC is looking into allegations that Microsoft Korea has been taking unfair advantage of its position by pushing its clients purchasing cloud computing-related products with unfair conditions,” said one source, wishing not to be unidentified.
The source said the agency is collecting information before probing the Korean affiliate of the U.S.-based licensing giant because the regulator is yet to find clear evidence.
“Any moves to force clients to purchase products with bundled packages are against antitrust law,” the source said.
FTC fined Microsoft Korea 30 billion won in 2005 after the agency found that the company forced local companies to purchase the Windows operating system, media player and messenger programs in one package.
The Microsoft Korea case will be different to Qualcomm, as the source said: “For Microsoft Korea, this issue isn’t about a royalty-related one, at least.”
Microsoft Korea said it wasn’t being probed by the FTC over patents abuse. Microsoft earlier struck a cross-licensing pact with Samsung.
FTC may fine Qualcomm up to 1 trillion won because the agency believes that Qualcomm’s moves to collect licensing fees based on equipment pricing rather than chip pricing is against fair trade.
On a related note, FTC has begun probing Google over the search giant’s alleged violation of antitrust regulations. Three years ago, Google was found not to have breached the regulations.
FTC recently sent investigators to Google Korea’s headquarters in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul, to check documents to discover whether Google Korea forced handset makers to use the Google Android platform and not sell products that use non-Android software.