Microsoft targets pirate auctioneers

MICROSOFT IS CRACKING DOWN on supposed pirates who have been flogging dodgy Microsoft software over the web using auction sites like eBay.

Over 50 lawsuits are planned, 15 of which will be in the States, 10 in Germany, 10 in the Netherlands, and 5 for both France and Britain. Other cases will be filed in Argentina, Australia, Poland, Korea and Belgium.

Suited Volish attorney Matt Lundy said that the lawsuits will be a "worldwide enforcement against sellers of counterfeit software on online auction sites."

Matt Lundy and the rest of the gang are more than a tad spooked about piracy on auction sites like eBay, since software piracy cuts deep into Microsoft's profits. "We're finding more and more that auction sites are becoming a popular way for counterfeiters to distribute counterfeit software to consumers," Lundy said.

In tests conducted by the Vole, over half of 115 software packages bought on eBay were counterfeit or otherwise altered. Voles say that the odds ain't good for buying genuine Microsoft software on eBay, with a good 50 per cent chance that you'll be buying dodgy goods. µ

L'INQ
Reuters