Microsoft settles thousands of piracy cases across globe

piracy

Microsoft settled 3,265 copyright infringement cases around the world during the last 12 months, as part of the software giant's ongoing fight against piracy.

The company's software is considered to be among the most pirated in the world, with the firm regularly warning users off cheap versions of Office and Windows as they are unlikely to be authentic.

In a statement, Microsoft said it had settled 3,265 cases over the past year, with the majority resulting from tip-offs by end users.

Out of these settlements, 35 took place in the US, while the remaining 3,230 cases occurred in 42 other countries across the globe.

David Finn, associate general counsel in the Microsoft Cybercrime centre, said the company was pleased to have resolved these cases, given the economic impact counterfeit software use can have.

"Software counterfeiting negatively impacts local and global economic growth, stifles innovation, and puts consumers and businesses at risk," he warned.

In total, Microsoft claims to have been contacted by more than 450,000 counterfeit software whistleblowers since 2005.

According to a recent study by analyst IDC on the dangers of using pirated software, end users will waste 1.5 billion hours dealing with counterfeit software-induced security issues.

Its findings also suggest that one in three consumer PCs running counterfeit software will be infected by malware in 2013.

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.