AfterDawn: News

Microsoft files string of suits against resellers over piracy concerns

This morning Microsoft announced it had filed 21 federal lawsuits against resellers it believes are selling pirated copies of Windows and Office software.

The software giant added that the companies that are being sued are selling PCs which are pre-installed with unlicensed copies. Eight of the companies were already sued for the same issue and settled the past lawsuits.



For most of the cases, Microsoft learned of the piracy from customers using the company's piracy hotline. Some of the computers also failed the company's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) online validation tool for legitimate Microsoft software.

"These legal actions are about protecting Microsoft's customers from falling victim to some dealers who operate a business model of peddling pirated and counterfeit software," Microsoft attorney Sharon Cates said in a statement. "Some companies previously involved in these lawsuits have discontinued their illegal business practices; others have not."

Six of the companies are from California, two in Texas, two in Washington, and others around the country in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Jun 2008 2:46

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• 17 comments

• DTN107

  Just who are these companies?

  11.6.2008 02:48 #1

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by DTN107: Just who are these companies?Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division Microsoft Corp. v. Computer Imaging Services, Inc. (Marietta, Georgia), alleging distribution of infringing Office Pro 2003 and Office Access 2003 software after a prior lawsuit and injunction. -U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ARP Computer Solutions, Inc. d/b/a Computer Circulation Center (San Diego, California), alleging distribution of infringing Office Pro 2003 software. -U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Micro West Tech, Inc. (Chatsworth, California), alleging distribution of infringing Office XP Pro and Office Home and Student 2007 software. -U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Loco Computer (Los Angeles, California), alleging distribution of infringing Windows XP Home and Office Pro 2003 software. -U.S. District Court for the Central District of California LTI Computer, Inc. (Walnut, California), alleging distribution of infringing Office 2007 software. -U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Computer Center (Encino, California), alleging distribution of infringing Office 2007 Pro software after a prior complaint and injunction. -U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Tiger Tech (Lancaster, California), alleging distribution of infringing Office Pro 2003 software. -U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Western Division KNT Computers, Inc. (Chicopee, Massachusetts), alleging distribution of infringing Windows XP Pro and Office Pro 2003 software after a prior lawsuit and consent judgment. -U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division Alvio (Warrensville Heights, Ohio), alleging distribution of counterfeit Office Pro 2003 software after a prior lawsuit and injunction. -U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina Computer Inferno (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina), alleging distribution of infringing Windows XP Pro, Office 2007, and Office XP Pro software. -U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Western Division Advanced Computer Corporation (Memphis, Tennessee), alleging distribution of infringing Office XP Pro software after a prior lawsuit and injunction. -U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division Quality System (Houston, Texas), alleging distribution of infringing Office 2003 Pro software. Case No. 4:08-cv-01828 -U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division Easy Computer Company (Houston, Texas), alleging distribution of infringing Windows XP Pro and Office 2003 Pro software. -U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division L&Y Electronics, Inc. (Woodbridge, Virginia), alleging distribution of counterfeit and infringing Office Pro 2003 software. -U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon Computer Renaissance (Beaverton, Oregon), alleging distribution of infringing Windows XP Pro and Office 2007 software. -U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas Delta Computers (Pine Bluff, Arkansas), alleging distribution of infringing Windows XP Pro and Office Pro 2003 software. -U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado The Toro Group, Inc. d/b/a Axess Computers (Denver, Colorado), alleging distribution of counterfeit Office Pro 2003 software. -U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division Computer Renaissance (Clearwater, Florida), alleging distribution of infringing Windows XP Pro and Office 2007 Enterprise Edition software. -U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division Myoda Computer Centers (Hoffman Estates, Illinois), alleging distribution of infringing and Office Pro 2007 software after a prior complaint and injunction. -U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle Twilight Computers (Burien, Washington), alleging distribution of infringing Windows XP Pro and Office 2007 Enterprise Edition software. -U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma 1 Source Computer Solutions (Vancouver, Washington), alleging distribution of infringing Office Pro 2003 software.

  11.6.2008 02:51 #2

• susieqbbb

  can someone explain this in english please my head aches

  11.6.2008 03:57 #3

• iluvendo

  Originally posted by susieqbbb: can someone explain this in english please my head achesYour head is supposed to ache, it's legal speak !

  11.6.2008 03:59 #4

• ZippyDSM

  how much of this is OEM or resold copies of XP and not blatant copies with bad keys but MS trying to enforce a resale rule you buy from us or you cant pre install?

  11.6.2008 08:29 #5

• venomX05

  Quote:U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division L&Y Electronics, Inc. (Woodbridge, Virginia), alleging distribution of counterfeit and infringing Office Pro 2003 software.Isn't that interesting, I am right down the street from these people in Alexandria...lol, guess I won't be buying stuff from there ever

  11.6.2008 10:42 #6

• lynchGOP

  Originally posted by susieqbbb: can someone explain this in english please my head achesSheeesh! Are you a member or are you a 'member'?
  
  The names of the companies are all listed in this order: Court/location v. {name of company} (location of company)

  11.6.2008 11:57 #7

• Sophocles

  A student that I counsel purchased a laptop back in December 2007. He asked me for advice because he was receiving a message stating that he was receiving a message stating that his copy of Windows XP Home was not legal. Having received the message on perfectly legit copies of XP I expected to quickly resolve the issue, but after about a half hour I concluded that he did indeed have an illegally install copy of XP on it. Now I'm not the biggest fan of Microsoft but when rogue retailers start taking advantage of kids I take exception. After a phone call to Microsoft to be certain that I wasn't mistaken I had to inform the child that he would need another copy of Windows if he was to continue using his laptop. These rogue retailers aren't always easy to track. They dump a load of PCs on to unwitting buyers and then change their business names and move on. BTW, my location is Tampa Bay area, Florida.

  11.6.2008 13:44 #8

• OzMick

  Or you could just give MS the finger all together and just use Linux...

  11.6.2008 15:49 #9

• ikari

  I couldn't imagine how many upset callers MS got because of all of these companies.

  11.6.2008 15:57 #10

• Sophocles

  Quote:Or you could just give MS the finger all together and just use LinuxYou could and I know I would, but this was a kid who also played some games that are not available on Linux even using wine. Linux is a great system I have it on two of my rigs but many applications created for Windows don't work well on Linux, and fortunately a few do with wine.

  11.6.2008 16:08 #11

• bdoggie08

  yea-MS messed up with Vista, it sucks, XP was great, but just use Linux or Apple. Apple and Linux are so much better, less viruses and more faster.

  11.6.2008 18:26 #12

• 7thsinger

  That's one helluva list DvdBack!
  
  Jeez.
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  "Sir, i would not harm thee for the world...but thou art standing where i'm about to shoot."

  11.6.2008 18:53 #13

• bdoggie08

  hey he knows his sh*t :p

  11.6.2008 18:56 #14

• susieqbbb

  I am sorry to agree but apple is a lot better no viruses and the viruses that due show up on apple are due to microsoft products like office 2004 and 2008
  
  "how many of us have heard of this story on the internet a few months ago there was a story of a teacher out of california that gave his final to his students he told his students i would like you to try to break into my apple g5 tower and steal a text document from my desktop he had setup automator to change the txt file every time a student downloaded the file so he could catch cheaters if they tried to share the file well when the big day came to turn in there results in every paper these items where listed we where able to hack your macintosh using a backdoor in microsoft office 2004 and found the same door in microsoft office 2008 which let us into your operating system to download the file.
  
  Here is the catch!!!
  
  When asked could you hack the operating system directly all the students replied no they couldn't hack mac os x directly because every time they tried they where locked out of the system by a fake generated ip address or the system wouldn't respond at all.
  
  
  Makes you think huh.
  
  If Microsoft's software was so good that people would purchase it and want to purchase it
  Then they would but because most of there software contains security flaws and major load times most people choose to pirate.

  12.6.2008 03:43 #15

• ZippyDSM

  susieqbbb
  the trouble is nothing runs on a mac :P

  12.6.2008 12:02 #16

• bdoggie08

  True.

  12.6.2008 12:16 #17