Microsoft files suit against resellers for XP piracy but not for Vista
By Mike Ferro
Last week Microsoft filed lawsuits to 21 resellers for software piracy in the US. Considering software piracy is on the rise and eating into Microsoft’s profits, it’s a smart move to start hitting back to show the seriousness of the matter.
Software piracy is a growing problem especially overseas but we are not susceptible here in the US. According to PC World, a study shows US may have one of the lowest software piracy rate at 20% compared to other counties. However due to the size of the market that comes out to $8 billion in loss due to piracy.
This amount is far greater than any other single country’s loss due to the size of the market. The lawsuits were filed in: California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Oregon, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Washington.
According to Microsoft the piracy issues were discovered by a mix of call received from the piracy hotline or through Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). It was also surprising that almost all of these lawsuits involved XP and/or Office suite. However, apparently none of the lawsuits were for piracy of Windows Vista.
It seems even the software thieves are not feeling Vista and prefer XP. Vista does face piracy but it is not rampant as XP. This may reflect the lack of acceptance and popularity of Microsoft’s latest operating system.
Ironically several of the companies facing lawsuit are previous offenders who had opted to settle out of court in the past. It seems like they haven’t learned their lesson yet.
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