Microsoft against Counterfeit Software Sellers, Filed 52 Lawsuits

Microsoft Corp. has filed fifty-two lawsuits in 22 different countries including the US and Canada against alleged sellers of counterfeit software over the Internet.

The countries in which the lawsuits have been filed are the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Turkey, South Africa, Hong Kong and India.

According to a Microsoft-sponsored IDC white paper in October 2006, counterfeit or fake software could contain malware, spyware or other malicious code. The danger of such software is its failure to run properly and in posing real threat to businesses and consumers through security breaches that could result in damage, misuse or loss of their confidential personal and business information. Counterfeit software is also incapable of updating itself to continue its protection from newly emerging malware threats.

Associate General Counsel, David Finn, for global anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy at Microsoft said that the criminal gang the FBI and the law enforcement body in China broke up in the summer of 2006 was connected to a vast amount of Internet activity carried out illegitimately. Vnunet published Finn's statement on December 11, 2007.

Following this, Microsoft with the help of eBay has been educating users of auction sites about fake software and has also released the 'Microsoft Buying Guide' that discusses safe resources and practices for buying software from the Internet.

According to worldwide security professionals, software pirates across the globe put innumerable consumers in danger by selling them faulty counterfeit software on online market places. Therefore, Microsoft is trying to reduce such piracy through the lawsuits it has filed, as handling counterfeit software is not only harmful but is also illegal.

Director of business development with IT matters, Stuart Crawford, who is also a partner of Microsoft, similarly suggests users to seek the software authenticating certificate when they buy systems to make sure that Microsoft Vista is pre-installed and also ensure that the software's CD is included. Echannelline published Crawford's statement on December 11, 2007.

The lawsuits as well suggest computer owners that they use right software securities to properly tackle the risk of corrupt software available on auction sites.

Related article: Microsoft Patches Live OneCare to Tackle Quarantined E-Mails

» SPAMfighter News - 12/26/2007