by; Todd Bishop
Datel Design & Development, a maker of memory units for Microsoft's Xbox 360, has filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft over its moves to prevent the U.K.-based company's products from working with the game console. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, says Microsoft is unfairly favoring its own Xbox 360 accessories by disabling the functionality of competing technologies.
Microsoft announced last month that a software update would block unauthorized memory units from working with the console. The move was ostensibly meant to crack down on cheating enabled by unauthorized memory units -- including a Datel unit that uses removable MicroSD cards -- but it also drew complaints from gamers over the price that Microsoft charges for its own memory units.
"Microsoft's purpose in disabling Datel's memory cards is to prevent consumers from choosing a Datel product that offers far better value for the price," reads the Datel complaint. "There is no benefit to consumers from Microsoft's decision to target and disable Datel's memory cards. To the contrary, Microsoft's actions will leave approximately 50,000 consumers with useless memory cards and (without the ability to access their data on the cards), forestall innovation, and deprive future consumers of the benefits of competition."
The suit seeks an injunction to prevent Microsoft from "disabling or erecting technological barriers to Datel accessories," in current and future game consoles. It also seeks unspecified monetary damages.
A 512MB memory unit from Microsoft goes for $29.99, while a 2GB model from Datel sells for $39.99.
Here's a copy of the complaint: PDF, 21 pages.
We've asked Microsoft for comment, and we'll update with its response.
