Microsoft has filed 26 separate lawsuits in the US
courts against alleged illegal software dealers in the latest stage
of its anti-piracy crackdown.
The cases target firms companies that Microsoft claims have
pirated software or been involved in “hard-disc loading” –
installing unlicensed software on computers they sell.
The slew of lawsuits was filed in courts across the US and is
aimed at tackling “the pandemic of pirated and counterfeit
software” on the market, Microsoft said.
The software giant used a “mystery shopper” exercise to gather
evidence for its lawsuits, sending people to buy hardware and
software, then testing its components to check authenticity.
Microsoft also said some dealers had been the subject of complaints
to its anti-piracy hotline.
Microsoft’s anti-piracy crackdown has so far had mixed results.
The firm trumpeted its victory over UK software dealer William
Ling, who had traded more than £3.5m of counterfeit and unlicensed
Microsoft software over five years, when he shut down operations in
May.
But the company’s anti-piracy activities have also sparked legal
challenges from software users. Microsoft is facing two class
action lawsuits alleging that its Windows Genuine Advantage
anti-piracy program is spyware and that the firm misled users by
labelling it as a critical security update.
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