Microsoft Hits 21 US Resellers With Piracy Lawsuits

Microsoft has filed 21 lawsuits in 14 U.S. states against resellers in which it alleges they engaged in the sale of pirated software, it said Tuesday.

Some of the cases were caught thanks to Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage or Office Genuine Advantage programs in which the copy of the Windows operating system or Office suite on a user's computer is electronically authenticated online. Microsoft began rolling out Windows Genuine Advantage in April 2006.

Others lawsuits were sparked by calls to Microsoft's anti-piracy hotline, the company said.

Almost all the lawsuits all concerned Windows XP and/or consumer versions of Office. Only two suits alleged piracy of an enterprise version of the software and Windows Vista was not the subject of an allegation in any filing, according to information from Microsoft.

Source and Full Story: PC World

FreewareKicks news Release: 06/11/2008 (mm/dd/yyyy)