Microsoft takes anti-piracy stand

Microsoft has set up an initiative to help anyone who has been sold counterfeit software.

The scheme allows home and office users to send in any Microsoft title they suspect may be counterfeit and, if it is, the company will replace the product with the genuine article. But a few conditions must be met before the exchange can take place.

The customer has to produce a receipt for the goods, fill in a Statement of Witness, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website (www.microsoft.com/uk/piracy/productid) or obtained by phoning 0800 013 2222, and they must send back all parts of the product, including the box and manuals.

Obviously, gold CDs bought at car boot sales and computer fairs will not be considered, but where the customer has bought an item in good faith, Microsoft will replace the product at its discretion.

For a small business which has bought several copies of a software product, Microsoft will only supply one copy in return, but will also provide a letter stating why the product is counterfeit. Companies can then take the letter to local Trading Standards offices and pursue a claim against the suppliers.

Microsoft says the scheme, run by its Product Identification Team, will help customers avoid the problems caused by using counterfeit software, such as infected disks and no software support.

Julia Phillpot, anti-software piracy manager for Microsoft said: "We do not want people to be ripped off." However, she admitted the scheme will help Microsoft. "We hope this will help us to get more information about the counterfeiters."

Microsoft will add all the information collected via the scheme to a database of illegal traders and will work with Trading Standards officers to bring the counterfeiters to book.

Some estimates suggest that 26 per cent of all business software used in the UK is illegal in some way. For example, the product is counterfeit or has been loaded onto more machines than it is licensed for.

The Consumers' Association estimates that in this country more than £8bn is lost to counterfeiters each year.

See also:

Microsoft rejoices in anti-piracy victory

Microsoft scored another anti-piracy victory last month after two resellers were fined a total of more than £10,000 for dealing with and supplying counterfeit products.  08 Mar 2001

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