Microsoft continues anti-piracy crackdown

Microsoft has reached deals with 12 more resellers found to be offering pirated software.

As its crackdown on software piracy continues, Microsoft has announced that it has caught another 12 resellers offering illegal software to customers.

The company said it had reached deals with the traders in question, which have all admitted selling unlicensed programmes.

Five of the 12 resellers were based in Manchester and all have agreed to work with Microsoft as they cease their activities.

Most of the traders were found to have illegally hard-loaded the software - although many did not realise that what they had done was against the law, Microsoft said.

The company now plans to step up its anti-piracy efforts, pointing out that software piracy is putting increasing pressure on law-abiding traders, many of whom are already struggling to cope during the recession.

Scott Dodds, general manager of the small, medium enterprises and partners group at Microsoft UK, said: "Historically, many in the channel have seen piracy as a relatively low priority - an irritation that could be ignored or put up with as long as business was good.

"However, at a time when the Federation of Small Business claims 120 businesses a day are going bust, Microsoft is working hard to stamp out unfair competition that puts pressure on resellers’ margins and also threatens to drive them out of business."

According to the Business Software Alliance, the global PC software piracy rate rose by three percentage points in 2007 to 38 per cent.

Dollar losses from piracy increased by $8 billion (£5.5 billion) to almost $48 billion, the organisation found in a report on the intellectual property issue.