Microsoft brought about her ship-of-the-line and began a broadside against bilge-soaked software pirates around the country. Microsoft aimed her guns, in the guise of lawyers at companies in California, Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota and New York and filed eight lawsuits charging copyright and trademark infringement.

This should make these companies squeal because each trademark infringement runs up to $1 million and each copyright infringement goes for $150,000. Some of the pirated software includes Windows XP, NT Server 4.0, Office 2000 Premium and all the authenticity documents to go with them.

Microsoft charged several companies including BWT Industry Technology Service Inc., an Arizona corporation, doing business as Computer Max Co. of Sierra Vista, Ariz.; Data Day USA Inc., of Vallejo, Calif.; MicroCity4Less.com, et al., of Torrance, Calif.; Winvtech Solutions, Inc., (aka Winvision Computers and Winvision Technology) of South El Monte, Calif.; Global Computing Inc. of Addison, Ill.; Ion Technologies Corp. of Minneapolis, Minn.; Compustar Co. of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Chips & Techs of New York, N.Y. Microsoft previously filed lawsuits against BWT Industry Technology Service/Computer Max Co. and Ion Technologies in their lawsuit comes from evidence submitted by consumers through Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage program.

“Microsoft does not take legal action lightly. We remain very serious about protecting honest software resellers and consumers from the illegal activities of software counterfeiters,” said Mary Jo Schrade, senior attorney at Microsoft. “It’s very clear to us that our customers want to know if they’ve received the product they paid for, and it is gratifying to see that initiatives such as WGA, Microsoft’s test purchase program and the piracy hotline are proving to be successful in helping to address this widespread problem.”

The software piracy industry is a multibillion dollar industry. It’s no wonder Microsoft is making such a concerted effort. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) said in a May study that software piracy will hit the $200 billion mark in the next five years and software manufacturers lost over $6 billion to piracy last year alone.

This biggest single player in this sting operation appears to be the average consumer. Microsoft received numerous reports from people against these companies. Microsoft said their methodology was based on those reports. They sent in “secret shoppers” to test their suspicions and to test authenticity of software being distributed. Then they sent cease and desist and other notifications and requested compliance. Now, they’re taking the legal route.

“Honest software resellers and consumers are hurt by illegitimate resellers,” said John Ball, general manager for the U.S. System Builders partner group at Microsoft, the group working with the small and medium-sized businesses that manufacture computers. “Counterfeiters offer flawed and illegal products at the fraction of the cost of genuine software. That unfairly and unjustly causes honest businesses to suffer financially. Consumers who unwittingly purchase counterfeit software are consequently cheated of the benefits that legitimate products afford, such as technical support and product updates. Moreover, illegal and illicit software may make it easier for consumers to unknowingly load dangerous, malicious code onto their systems.”

Software piracy continues to be a problem in the U.S. and around the world. The United States had the lowest percentage of software piracy at 21% but lost the most revenue at $6.6 billion. China had 90% (third highest rate of piracy) and came in second in total losses at $3.6 billion. As long as money can be made, it will be but software companies like Microsoft and others have a right to protect their property and to profit from it.