LONDON, April 27 - Salesforce and Slack have launched a lawsuit against Microsoft in London’s High Court, saying Microsoft engaged in anticompetitive tying and bundling related to its Teams application.
The legal action, filed on April 23 by Slack Technologies LLC and affiliated companies, contends that Microsoft’s approach harmed competition by using the bundling of Teams to constrain customer choice. A Slack spokesperson characterized the filing as a response to practices that limited options for buyers.
Microsoft did not immediately provide a comment in response to requests.
The new high court proceeding follows a prior regulatory complaint. In 2020 Slack raised concerns with the European Commission, accusing Microsoft of packaging Teams with its Office suite to secure an unfair advantage over competitors. That regulatory engagement culminated last year in an arrangement under which Microsoft pledged reduced prices for Office products that exclude Teams.
This lawsuit was filed during a week that also saw the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal certify a group action alleging Microsoft overcharged British businesses for the use of Windows Server software on cloud infrastructure run by competing providers. Microsoft has disputed the claims in that parallel case.
Context and implications
The complaint centers on the allegation that tying and bundling of a widely used collaboration product to a dominant productivity suite can limit customer choice and distort competitive dynamics. The filing cites prior regulatory engagement in Europe and notes a remedial pricing commitment from Microsoft. The company has countered the separate cloud-related allegations currently moving forward in the UK tribunal.
Commercial and market angles
- The dispute highlights tensions between platform providers that bundle collaboration tools with productivity software and standalone rivals offering specialized messaging services.
- The timing, coinciding with certification of a mass claim over Windows Server cloud pricing, underscores multiple legal challenges facing Microsoft in the UK market.
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