14 DAY TRIAL // Windows and Office continue to be impacted by software piracy, but at the same time, Microsoft goes on with its fight against those who illegally activate its products. This time, the company has tracked down someone who did this with no less than 1,000 copies of the operating system and the productivity suite.
Before you call this pirate “stupid,” there’s something you should have in mind: the chances are that the one involved in this case is a retailer that sells Windows PCs and thus activates them with licenses that, according to Microsoft, were stolen from its supply chain.
Individuals rarely activate so many licenses, so they’re not brought in the cross hairs by Microsoft, but whenever someone pirates thousands of copies of Windows and Office, that’s something the company needs to take care of.
Windows Vista, 7 and 8 got cracked
In lawsuits filled with a Seattle court, Microsoft explains that impacted software includes Windows 7, Vista, and 8, as well as Office 2010 and 2013. The company has already managed to track down the pirate’s IP and is now asking the judge for authorization to find their identity and make them pay for what they did.
“Microsoft's cyberforensics have identified over one thousand product activations originating from IP address 66.51.73.111 (‘the IP Address’), which is presently assigned to Earthlink Inc., and which, on information and belief, is being used by the Defendants in furtherance of the unlawful conduct alleged herein,” the court documents reveal.
According to the company, these new findings might be in some way related to previous cases of software piracy, and it appears that the same IP is being used to activate more copies of Windows and Office these days.
“On information and belief, Defendants have been and continue to be involved in installing counterfeit and infringing copies of Microsoft's software and/or related components,” it notes.
Certainly, Microsoft is no longer willing to tolerate software piracy, especially when it comes to such a big number of product keys, so it’ll be interesting to see how this case evolves.