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Bulgaria: Microsoft unit fined after software agreement complaint

By  |  July 1, 2014

Microsoft Bulgaria, a unit of Microsoft, has been fined more than $130,000 by Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition following a complaint by software distribution firm BMG.

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    According to reports, BMG filed a competition complaint against Microsoft regarding a suspended agreement between the two.

    Reports say the CPC found Microsoft Bulgaria published a misleading statement that “created a mistaken impression that the plaintiff might no longer be able to carry out services related to the offering of Microsoft products.”

    Microsoft confirmed that it suspended its contract with BMG, but authorities found tat the company’s statement incorrectly mislead BMG to believe it could no longer offer Microsoft Volume Licensing programs.

    That misleading statement caused harm to competition, the authority said.

    As a result of the statement, BMG said, several of its customers suspended their own contracts with BMG thinking they could no longer get the Microsoft product.

    Full content: Sofia Globe

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