Microsoft will face a collective lawsuit in the UK over cloud computing authorization issues.

The UK Competition Appeals Tribunal ruled that Microsoft must respond to a collective lawsuit in the UK. The plaintiffs accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant market position, overcharging businesses using Windows server operating systems and Azure cloud services. A judge in the London Competition Appeals Tribunal said that the lawsuit, brought by about 59,000 businesses and organizations, has a reasonable prospect of success. The plaintiffs estimate that if successful, Microsoft would have to pay compensation exceeding 1.7 billion. A Microsoft spokesperson responded on Wednesday, stating that the company will appeal the ruling and deny the allegations. They said, "This ruling does not make a final judgment on the claims in the lawsuit."