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Cloud busting

Assessing the impact of software licensing practices on competition

New research by Savanta supports the basis of EU and national competition authorities’ investigations into the impact of legacy software vendors’ licensing practices that could harm competition in the cloud infrastructure market.

Chris Woolcott Senior Director 01/02/2024

Research conducted by Savanta highlights the challenges that European businesses face in changing their cloud infrastructure providers, often due to restrictive licensing practices or other activities that inhibit market competition. The study comes in the wake of the UK Competition and Markets Authority saying it would examine the impact of software licensing practices on competition in the cloud market, along with the French Competition Authority highlighting the issue in its cloud market study last year.

The European Commission and the US Federal Trade Commission are currently considering whether to investigate restrictive software licensing further.

Download the full report.