Microsoft under anti-monopoly probe in China

Chinese regulators have opened an anti-monopoly investigation into Microsoft Corp, seizing computers and documents from offices in four cities even as tensions escalated with US technology companies, Bloomberg reported.

The Chinese government is also investigating Microsoft executives in China, including a vice president, according to a statement posted yesterday on the State Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC) website.

The company was urged to cooperate by the regulator after almost 100 members of its staff inspected the offices 28 July, and copied contracts and financial statements.

China pressed US companies harder after US prosecutors indicted five Chinese military officers in May, accusing them of theft of corporate secrets.

The software giant acknowledged the probe 28 July in an e-mail and said it was happy to answer government questions.

The US and China had levelled accusations at each other over cyberspying on information-technology security for years.

According to Microsoft, it sought to comply with Chinese law, after Beijing announced an anti-monopoly investigation of the US technology giant over its business practices.

"Microsoft complies with the laws and regulations of every market in which we operate around the world and we have industry leading monitoring and enforcement mechanisms in place to ensure this," it said in a brief statement.

"Our business practices in China are designed to be compliant with Chinese law."

China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) said Tuesday it was investigating Microsoft for "monopoly actions" related to its flagship Windows operating system and Office suite of software.

SAIC said it had received complaints from companies about Microsoft bundling its products for sale and failing to disclose information about software, which led to problems with compatibility.

This May, China also banned the use of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system on all new government computers, as reports emerged alleging security concerns.

The Chinese move followed the indictment of five members of a Chinese military unit for allegedly hacking US companies for trade secrets by the US.

Other US technology companies too were facing issues in the Chinese market and last week, according to state media, China was preparing to announce US chip maker Qualcomm had monopoly status in the mobile phone chip market.