South Korea's anti-trust watchdog has expanded an investigation into U.S. software giant Microsoft over alleged abuse of its market dominance.
The Fair Trade Commission said it expanded investigation last month after receiving a complaint from RealNetworks, a U.S. firm marketing the "RealPlayer" audio-visual software, that Microsoft is violating anti-trust laws.
The commission said RealNetworks accused Microsoft and its South Korean unit of unfairly bundling the "Media Player" program and the "Media Server" program with its Windows operating system.
Microsoft has been under a separate investigation by the commission since South Korea's largest Internet portal Daum Communications filed a complaint in September 2001.
Daum, which has its own messaging service, said Microsoft violated anti-trust rules by unfairly incorporating its "MSN" instant messaging software into its Windows system.
Microsoft is also engaged in a legal battle with the European Commission, which ruled in March that the company should sell its Windows system without its Media Player software for fair competition with European rivals.
The Brussels commission also fined the U.S. company nearly half a billion euros.