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Microsoft Helps Shutter Chinese Counterfeiters
David Utter
Staff Writer
2007-07-24
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The FBI and Chinese authorities wrapped up a syndicate that may have put more than $2 billion in counterfeit Microsoft products into circulation.
Microsoft said the fake software had been found in 27 countries on five continents. Products like their revenue mainstay Office and the new Vista operating system appeared in multiple languages.
Investigations by the FBI and China's Public Security Bureau ended up with what appears to be the breakup of the biggest software counterfeiting ring in the world. More than 55,000 high-quality copies of software all traced back to the same group in southern China during the investigation.
Microsoft claimed these 55,000 discs represent less than a percent of the counterfeit software showing up in many countries. The raids on the syndicate in China should diminish those numbers.
Many purchasers of the bogus software were alerted when they tried activating their products online. These counterfeit discs would fail the Windows Genuine Advantage test, prompting owners to contact Microsoft about them.
"It is no exaggeration to say that the ability of our customers to identify counterfeit software through Windows Genuine Advantage, and the subsequent help of our customers and partners, was absolutely critical in ultimately identifying this massive counterfeit manufacturing and distribution network," David Finn, associate general counsel for Worldwide Anti-Piracy and Anti-Counterfeiting at Microsoft, said in the statement.
Tags: Microsoft, Software, Policy
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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