Microsoft is facing a UK-wide class action lawsuit over alleged overcharging for its cloud computing software.

Dr Maria Luisa Stasi claims that the tech giant is overcharging UK-based companies for its Window Server software which is used by businesses for cloud computing.

UK organisations are all being represented in the current lawsuit, which is operating on an “opt-out” basis, meaning they can elect to not participate or benefit in the proceedings.

This is just some of the latest allegations hitting the global cloud market, which largely consists of Amazon’s AWS, Microsoft’s Azure, and Google Cloud.

The latest lawsuit alleges that small businesses are being hit particularly hard by Microsoft’s cloud licensing practices.

“Put simply, Microsoft is punishing UK businesses and organisations for using Google, Amazon and Alibaba for cloud computing by forcing them to pay more money for Windows Server,” said Ms Stasi, as reported by the BBC.

“By doing so, Microsoft is trying to force customers into using its cloud computing service Azure and restricting competition in the sector.

“This lawsuit aims to challenge Microsoft’s anti-competitive behaviour, push them to reveal exactly how much businesses in the UK have been illegally penalised, and return the money to organisations that have been unfairly overcharged.”

As many companies rely on Windows software for other facets of their tech stack, some of Microsoft’s prohibitory policies on interoperability have come under scrutiny.

This caused the Competition and Markets Authority  (CMA) to hear from competitors earlier this year on the subject of Microsoft’s cloud market practices, with Google alleging that the licensing practices weaken rivals competitive capability whilst raising their costs.

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Both Google and Amazon cloud offerings can be used with Microsoft’s Windows platform, but Microsoft’s licencing agreements are alleged to introduce prohibitory costs to consumers, essentially forcing them to select Microsoft Azure as the most affordable cloud option. Since Amazon and Google do not offer similar products to Microsoft’s Windows servers, the market dominance raises concerns over fair competition in the cloud market.

The cloud market has continually faced scrutiny by the UK competition watchdog as well as other nation’s consumer protection authorities for some of their policies which prohibit interoperability and charge extortionate prices for switching cloud providers.

Earlier this Autumn, the CMA even delayed its decision on a cloud market probe, citing the complexity of the issue.