The German authorities have fined Microsoft 9 million euros since they have forced the retailers to sell the office Office suite 2007 at a fixed price, thus preventing any competition. Microsoft did not deny these charges and indicated they would henceforth follow the German laws.
In the past, Apple had to undergo the same judgments, by preventing the retailers from making rebates on its products. In order to circumvent the law, they now use a system of very weak front-end margins, around 3%, that blocks any promotion, and give higher margins at the end of the year to ensure the retailers receive an acceptable benefit. Thus they cannot make promotions beyond these small percent without being illegal by selling at a loss.
