The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has prevented more than 36,000 illegal software products from being sold on auction sites during the first half of 2007 and has predicted that the total amount of software being offered illegally via such sites will total almost £8m by the year end.
John Wolfe, director of internet enforcement at the BSA, said: “When buying software on auction sites, people need to be concerned if prices appear too good to be true. There is also a significant data protection risk in that counterfeit software may be linked to hackers looking to access your network.”
Meanwhile, Microsoft has announced yet another victory in its fight against illegal software and parallel importation.
The vendor took two cases out against R J Campbell and his distribution business, R J Campbell Ltd, which traded collectively as Software Price Beater, after he admitted to importing and selling counterfeit software on auction web sites.
Campbell has been ordered to pay Microsoft damages of £35,000 for illegally importing software from the USA. This is the second settlement that Campbell has had to pay ­ the first being for selling counterfeit software on UK auction web sites.
Michala Wardell, head of anti piracy at Microsoft, said: “Microsoft has been working hard in its fight against piracy and the channel should expect to see a flurry of settlement cases.
“Campbell has been in a legal battle with us for some time. The name that Campbell was trading under was a big clue for us to look into his business. The illegal software was that of all the usual offerings such as Windows XP and Home Office 2003.”
Matthew Stokes, product manager at distributor Blue Solutions, told CRN: “Software piracy creates an unfair and uneven market place, which causes problems for genuine companies. Microsoft is doing more to help partners and is going in at a higher level to catch the dealers, but there is always room for improvement.
“More companies should join the fight for an even playing field,” Stokes added.
Microsoft scores victory against software piracy