Microsoft files lawsuits against software smuggling

NEW YORK: Microsoft has filed several law suits in the United States in an effort to stop software intended for students and schools being sold to unsuspecting retail consumers.

The software giant said it has filed nine lawsuits and issued more than 50 cease and desist letters in efforts to shut down alleged international software smuggling operations.

Companies in Jordan and elsewhere have made millions of dollars in illegal profits by diverting specially priced academic software from education programmes, the law suits allege. This software was passed off to consumers in the United States who lacked the licence to use it, they contend.

The lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Nevada and Montana States.

"To those who say software piracy is a victimless crime, I would say this case tells a different story," said Bonnie MacNaughton, senior attorney at Microsoft.

"The defendants in these lawsuits and others are charged with profiting from selling clearly marked educational software to unsuspecting retail customers who were not licenced to use it, and potentially depriving students and schools of the opportunity to benefit from the latest technologies."

Microsoft routinely works with governments and public agencies around the world to provide heavily discounted software to the global academic community. Through these programmes, students and schools are provided with access to the latest technologies that they might not otherwise be able to afford.

The lawsuits allege that companies in Jordan and elsewhere posing as academic resellers obtained hundreds of thousands of copies of discounted Microsoft Windows and Office system software intended for students in the region.

These companies reaped millions of dollars in illegal profits by allegedly selling the software to Internet retailers in the US rather than supplying it to the students.

Many of the Internet retailers, in turn, allegedly made hefty profits by selling the software at retail prices to unsuspecting American consumers who were deceived into buying software that was not licenced for their use.

"Jordan has invested heavily in transforming itself into a full-fledged knowledge economy," Microsoft quoted Basem Rousan, Jordan's minister of Information and Communications Technology as saying.

"Companies that break Jordan's intellectual property laws will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Investigations are being pursued in other countries where a similar scheme has been used, Microsoft said.

One of the largest offenders, it said, has already agreed to settle Microsoft's lawsuit out of court for more than one million dollars in cash and property. Other merchants that received cease and desist letters have agreed to voluntarily stop selling the software, which is clearly marked 'Student Media' and 'Not for retail or OEM distribution. Not
for resale.'

Microsoft said it continues to be committed to providing educational organizations and students around the world with affordable software through its academic programmes, and will initiate legal action to protect the integrity of those programmes.