Microsoft targets counterfeiters on UK auction sites

[BGonaSTICK]

Microsoft plans to file more than 50 lawsuits worldwide against online merchants who allegedly peddle counterfeit software on popular auction sites, the software giant said on Monday.

The actions include 15 lawsuits in the US, 10 in Germany, 10 in the Netherlands, and five each in France and the United Kingdom, Microsoft said. Additional cases are being filed in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Korea and Poland, the company said.

"This is a worldwide enforcement against sellers of counterfeit software on online auction sites," said Matt Lundy, a senior attorney at Microsoft. "We're finding more and more that auction sites are becoming a popular way for counterfeiters to distribute counterfeit software to consumers."

The lawsuits are part of Microsoft's continued crackdown on unlicensed software, which the company acknowledges cuts into its earnings. According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), about a third of all the software installed on personal computers worldwide in 2005 was counterfeit, a multibillion-pound loss for the software industry.

"Piracy is a huge problem worldwide," Lundy said. "The goal of our enforcement is to target enterprises that traffic counterfeit software." Microsoft has filed similar suits in the past. Typically these cases end in a settlement that precludes the defendants from selling counterfeit software, he said.

The new cases are against sellers who allegedly misused their eBay or other auction-site accounts to sell counterfeit software to consumers and businesses. Microsoft and eBay together intervene in about 50,000 software auctions a year that are deemed to be infringing copyright, Microsoft said.

Many of the alleged infringing sellers were identified through tips submitted by consumers through Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage, or WGA, programme, the company said. WGA requires people to validate their version of Windows as properly licensed before allowing access to additional Microsoft software downloads.

In tests conducted by Microsoft of 115 software products bought on eBay, more than half were found to be counterfeit or had been tampered with. The chances of purchasing genuine, legally licensed Microsoft software on eBay is less than 50 percent, the company said.

In its analysis of counterfeit software, Microsoft found that software pirates actually meddle with the product and, in some cases, add malicious code, Lundy said. "(The practice) leaves the door open for security issues such as identity theft," he said.

More than 500 million unique PC users have run the WGA programme since July 2005. Of those, 21 percent were found to be running illegitimate versions of Windows. Microsoft will help people who unknowingly acquired pirated software with free or discounted genuine software.

[nanochickin]

The simple solution to stop counterfeiting is for Micoshaft to make its software cheaper.

I mean who in their right mind is going to pay over £100 for piece of software that has security holes all over it and is about as stable as an italian Taxi driver stuck in a traffic jam (Yes i've been there )

When you can download a copy of Mandrake Linux completely legally and best of all for free it makes you wonder why the hell we all have Windows. Mandrake Linux is stable and has good support. Its also fairly easy to use. (I'm swatting up on it for the day when i can afford a dreambox )

I have 3 networked PCs at home, My Dell Dimention running a legal Dell copy of XP Pro which came with it, My Compaq Proliant 400 Server, running Windows NT4 Server (Yes its old but its stable, but best of all it only cost me £4 off ebay with the licences) and my daughters Compaq Deskpro is dual booting Mandrake Linux & Windows 2000 (off bit torrent ). So basically all the software owes me is £4. Thats what you call a bargain. Take heed Mr Gates your software is s**te and its over priced. A bit like Sly in all respects.

[BGonaSTICK]

... and there's more...

Microsoft turns to private detectives

Microsoft says that its crackdown on the trading of unlicensed software is "going well", thanks to the use of private detectives.

The company said on Tuesday it has taken action against five rogue traders in the UK so far, and has legal actions pending against another 16. The crackdown is international in scale, with 50 legal actions already filed, including 15 in the US, 10 in Germany and the Netherlands and five in France, as well as the five in the UK.

Of the five actions that have been concluded in Britain, four have been settled through courts and one was an out-of-court settlement, according to Michala Alexander, Microsoft's head of anti-piracy.

Alexander would not reveal details of the settlements reached but confirmed that all of the actions have come about through the use of Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage, the controversial tool that the company uses to track potentially illegal software.

"The actions were all against people using eBay and other auction sites to sell illegal software," she said.

Alexander revealed Microsoft is using private detectives to approach and question people suspected of selling illegal software through auction houses. Their use was justified, she said, because of the special circumstances involved in approaching such traders.

"We can't have our people doing it," Alexander said. "We can't send them in when we don't know what they are being let into. This could be private premises where the illegal copying was being done in somebody's bedroom. We have to use specialists who know how to handle that sort of situation."

According to Alexander, the need for the crackdown was justified for a number of reasons, including the need to defend the public. "A lot of auction sites, like e*Bay , are completely legitimate," she said. "But there is a lot of illegal software out there."

According to IDC, 34 percent of the software packages sold on auction sites in fact contain nothing but blank disks, Alexander said.