Microsoft sues nine businesses for piracy

BALTIMORE– Microsoft Corp. has sued nine businesses in Virginia and Maryland, alleging they sold counterfeit software and, in some cases, loaded illicit programs onto computers, the software firm said.

Microsoft said it filed separate federal lawsuits last week against the businessesall of them small operations with a handful of employeesafter they ignored warning letters asking them to cease software piracy.

The majority of the 14,000 Microsoft resellers in the mid-Atlantic region check to ensure that the products they sell are legitimate. Problems arise when some businesses “do not take this responsibility and shift the burden to the customers,” Microsoft attorney Nick Psyhogeos said last Tuesday.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company is seeking monetary damages and court orders demanding the businesses stop software piracy.

Microsoft, which makes the hugely popular Windows software, has filed similar anti-piracy lawsuits in Illinois, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama and Massachusetts, and elsewhere. While Microsoft said it doesn’t estimate its losses due to stolen software, some experts have said two out of every five software packages sold worldwide are pirated.

Microsoft officials say most pirated packages could contain viruses and cause other problems. Customers also can’t upgrade their software packagesfor example, from Windows 95 to Windows 98if they own a pirated version.

“If the prices sound too good to be true, they probably are. That is probably a suspect product,” said Microsoft spokeswoman Pam Salzer.

The Maryland and Virginia businesses named in the Microsoft lawsuits either said they didn’t know they were selling pirated software or flatly denied the charges. They all implied that Microsoft is bullying little companies that don’t have the resources to defend themselves.

“Microsoft is probably suing the wrong person. They need to find out who out there is making the fake copies and sue them,” said Evelyn Boney, owner of Micro General Inc., a one-person College Park, Md., company which sells computer books, some software and a computer or two a month. “I don’t have any idea whether it is counterfeit or not.”

Michael Vu, owner of Netcom Computer Technology in Springfield, said the charges are untrue because he has the documentation to prove that he is a legitimate dealer. He said he unwittingly bought counterfeit software packages at a trade show and stopped selling them after receiving a warning letter from Microsoft.

“I’ll be more than happy to be up front with them,” he said. “I don’t know…why Microsoft is doing this to us.”

The Virginia companies being sued are Natco Terminal Support Inc. of Lorton and Netcom Computer Technology of Springfield.

The Maryland companies being sued are Datasoftworks Inc. of Beltsville; Halifax Technology Services Co. of Hanover; Micro General Inc. of College Park; Smart Computer Systems Corp. of Baltimore; Aerocom Computer Technology LC of Clinton; Alpha Computers of Baltimore; and Global Computer Systems Inc. of Gaithersburg.