REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft Corporation has moved the U.S. courts against a number of computer system makers and resellers for allegedly offering counterfeit software with the systems they make.
In law suits filed in California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Alabama, Maryland and Rhode Island, the company has charged Abacus Computer Corp., Technology One, Avantek, Inc., First E-Commerce, M&S Computer Products, Micro Excell, Inc., Odyssey Computers and Signature PC with copyright and trademark violations. Prior to the filings, the company had sent cease-and-desist letters to the companies.
Microsoft revealed that it found the alleged activities of these companies through a test purchasing program, under which it bought software from dealers to test for authenticity.
The company quotes Business Software Alliance to say as much as 22 per cent of software being used in the U.S. is counterfeit and this seriously affected the business of legitimate vendors. It had lobbied with the Government for legislation against such activities and a law, the Anti-Counterfeiting Amendments Act of 2003, has come into being in December 2004. One of the resellers in the current list has also been sued for allegedly violating the new law.
The present law suits follow similar action in November 2004.
"Our partners are coming to us and asking for our help," said Bonnie MacNaughton, senior attorney at Microsoft. "They are being undercut and forced out of business by having to compete with dishonest PC manufacturers and resellers who continue to sell illegitimate software. That isn't fair to our partners or to the customers who depend on them."
The Anti-Counterfeiting Amendments Act of 2003 provides for criminal and civil penalties for distribution of genuine standalone Certificate of Authenticity (COA) labels or authentic COA labels that are separated from the software they were intended to certify.
The defendants are alleged to have distributed counterfeit software or software components, separated COA labels, or unlicensed software even after they were contacted by Microsoft requesting that they halt their illegal activities.
A COA label helps identify genuine Microsoft software. For authorized preinstalled Microsoft Windows operating systems, the COA label is affixed on the PC chassis. When the operating system is bought separately, the label is affixed on the top of the box. The COA label includes sophisticated anti-counterfeiting features to help verify the software's authenticity and product key code.
