The German government has fined Microsoft €9 million for illegally pressing a retailer to sell its Office productivity software for a certain price.

Microsoft employees and those of a national retailer met twice and agreed on the resale price of "Office Home and Student 2007." An advertising campaign for the software then launched in October.

Under German law suppliers and retailers are allowed to discussed pricing strategies within some limits.However, they are not allowed to coordinate the pricing activities of the retailer and thus retailer and supplier agree on future actions of the retailer.

The government said that in the present case, this boundary has been crossed. Microsoft has accepted the fine although Microsoft has not said anything yet.