Microsoft takes legal actions against software counterfeiters
After the significant results of an investigation by IDC into the prevalence of malicious code and unwanted software from Web sites offering counterfeit products, or crack tools for Microsoft Windows XP and the Microsoft Office System, Microsoft on Tuesday announced its plan to file more than 55 lawsuits against such counterfeit software dealers around the world.
The announced series of criminal and civil actions that is software giant’s largest enforcement effort to date includes 15 in the United States, 10 in Germany, 10 in the Netherlands, five each in France and United Kingdom as well as proceedings in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Korea and Poland.
“Today's announcement marks the largest enforcement effort by Microsoft and the first time the company has focused its efforts worldwide to bring legal action against online dealers,” the Redmond, US based company said in a statement.
Microsoft said it had sent notices to many of the defendants about their infringing behavior before filing the lawsuits. These legal actions are against those online merchants who allegedly have misused their eBay or other on-line auction site accounts to sell counterfeit software.
Matt Lundy, a senior attorney at Microsoft, said, "This is a worldwide enforcement against sellers of counterfeit software on online auction sites. We're finding more and more that auction sites are becoming a popular way for counterfeiters to distribute counterfeit software to consumers."
The research from international market-research firm IDC, which was sponsored by Microsoft and published on October 23, 2006, showed that acquiring and using counterfeit software can make it easier for online attackers to steal users’ identity or use their personal data for financial gain.
Besides loss of users’ personal data, the software piracy is also accountable for the software industry’s profit loss. As per the estimates of the Business Software Alliance, a trade group representing a number of the world's largest software makers, nearly a third of all the software installed on PCs worldwide in 2005 was pirated, a multibillion-dollar loss for the software industry.
According to Microsoft, along with eBay it gets involved in about 50,000 software auctions every year that are believed to be infringing copyright. After conducting some tests Microsoft found that of 115 software products bought on eBay, more than half were counterfeit or had been interfered. After the horrified results of the tests, the company said that the chances of purchasing genuine, legally licensed Microsoft software on eBay is less than 50 per cent.
The software company established the identity of most of the allegedly infringing sellers through tips posted by consumers through Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program that permits consumers to differentiate the value of genuine Windows software from non- genuine.
The programme enables consumers to verify whether their Microsoft software is genuine, and educates them about the potential risks associated with counterfeit software.
