Microsoft sues resellers
In a show of force against piracy, the software giant takes 12 computer resellers to court for alleged software theft.
Filed over the last month or so, the suits are the result of the company's beefed-up campaign to stem unlicensed use of its operating system and applications software. All of the defendants engaged in "hard disk loading," or the preinstallation of unlicensed software, according to the Redmond, Washington, company.
A number of the resellers have previously settled piracy claims with the software giant, Microsoft said. The resellers are located in Northern California, New York, and Boston, according to Microsoft press releases.
The action is designed to protect buyers, who are often unaware that the software included on their new computer is unlicensed, Microsoft asserted. Microsoft also warned other computer resellers that only software sold from a list of authorized delivery service partners is legal.
"The cases we've come across have always been the smaller shops selling hardware," said Steve Bowers, a spokesman for the Software Publishers Association. "To our knowledge it's not usually the big national retailers."