Later today South Korean regulators searched the offices of Microsoft's S. Korean office. The reason behind the search was to investigate allegations that Microsoft violated trade regulations by tying its IM software to its OS. This seems totally uncalled for in my opinion. Sounds to me like S. Korea wants to add its name to the already long list of lawsuits.
South Korean regulators searched the offices of Microsoft Corp.'s local subsidiary on Thursday to investigate allegations that the U.S. software giant violated trade regulations by tying its instant messenger software to its Windows operating system. The investigation, conducted by South Korea's Fair Trade Commission, comes after the European Union fined Microsoft about $606 million in March and demanded changes in the software company's business practices. Microsoft has filed an appeal of the EU's antitrust decision.
In February, officials from Japan's fair trade watchdog raided Microsoft offices there on suspicion of monopoly law violations - in particular, whether Microsoft attached overly restrictive conditions to deals with computer makers. Microsoft said it had already dropped a controversial provision of those contracts but was cooperating with authorities. South Korea's FTC said it will conduct onsite investigations of Microsoft Korea through next Wednesday.
News source: seattlepi.com
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