$500 Million of Counterfeit Software

Written by Hawkeye Solutions

The FBI, Chinese law enforcement authorities, and Microsoft's anti-piracy team have collaborated to disrupt a massive global software-piracy ring operating out of the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Shenzhen. Microsoft says the ring sold at least $2 billion of high-quality counterfeit software, including multiple-language versions of Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Office 2007. The ring is suspected of operating more than 30 production lines. "This is the biggest software counterfeiting organization we have ever seen by far," says David Finn, Microsoft's associate general counsel for worldwide piracy and counterfeiting issues. The FBI and Chinese authorities arrested 25 people involved with the ring, and they also confiscated counterfeit Microsoft and Symantec software worth at least $500 million. The investigation of the counterfeiting ring dates back to May 2001, when Microsoft's anti-piracy team first began monitoring the ring. More than 1,000 individuals who unknowingly purchased counterfeit copies of Microsoft software helped Microsoft gather evidence for the investigation. "We've never seen so much involvement by individual customers in the evidence-building process," says Finn.

Source ASIS