Microsoft's anti-piracy effort brings in $77M
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Microsoft's recent anti-piracy efforts -- more aggressive anti-copying technology and a string of lawsuits -- are helping the company bring in new revenues, company officials said Thursday.
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Microsoft is making a serious effort to attack piracy: by giving away free copies of Windows XP to pirated users in the UK. The move is currently targeted at consumers who may be using pirated copies of Windows XP âby mistakeâ.
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Microsoft says the tiny photo of three men on the Vista installation disc is a security measure designed to prevent DVD piracy.
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Microsoft Corp. is giving computer users up to 500 megabytes of online storage for their documents, music, photos and video.
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The Financial Times reported yesterday that Microsoft paid the Computer and Communications Industry Association $19.75 million earlier this month to settle an antitrust suit, and that the association&#39;s top official received $9.75 million of that amount.
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A California man has been sentenced to seven years and three months in prison and ordered to pay $5.4 million in restitution as a result of a federal piracy case, software company Autodesk said Friday.
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California police arrested a man on Tuesday who allegedly sold illegally copied Microsoft and Adobe Systems software on the Internet for seven years, netting him an estimated $750,000.
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Microsoft Corp. , the world's biggest software company, is adding technology to its Windows operating system software that prevents pirated copies from working properly, starting with the Vista version due out in November.
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Microsoft Corp. will combat piracy of its flagship operating system by requiring Windows users to verify that their copy of the software is genuine in order to receive timely updates and security fixes, the world's largest software maker said on Wednesday.
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Software giant Microsoft Corp. opened its wallet again Monday to clear more of its courtroom problems, paying $536 million to rival Novell Inc.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft will introduce a new system for fighting software piracy with its upcoming Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn Server operating systems, the company said Wednesday. Called the Microsoft Software Protection Platform, it's a collection of technologies that aims to do better at detecting pirated versions of Windows, and will also force unauthorized versions of its software into a limited-functionality mode, encouraging users to obtain a legal copy. People using unlicensed copies of Vista will be blocked from accessing certain features, including a new interface design called Windows Aero, and software for fighting pop-up advertisements called Windows Defender, Microsoft said. The company has already used a reduced functionality mode with Windows XP. Users with an unlicensed versions of Windows will also see a persistent reminder message in the corner of their screen, reading "This copy of Windows is not genuine." The new software is bound to come under scrutiny. Microsoft's previous attempt to reduce unauthorized use of its software, Windows Genuine Advantage, was partially rolled back after it wasÂ criticized as "spyware"Â for stealthily installing itself on users' PCs and reporting information back to Microsoft. Microsoft said the new technologies are necessary to fight software piracy, and said end-users can also benefit because they are less likely to be exposed to faulty or compromised software. End-users installing pirated Vista copies, or who don't register their software using a product key within 30 days, will have their OS functionality reduced. The product key is an ID number assigned to customers for each purchase of Windows. The company said it will also be able to track more easily when products are activated with product keys that have been stolen from a business. Regardless of the authenticity of their Vista copy, all users will have access to Microsoft security updates, the company said. For businesses that use volume license keys for Vista and Longhorn Server, Microsoft will introduce new, policy-based tools for activating those systems. The new tools, called Microsoft Volume Activation 2.0, won't be linked to Microsoft's software billing systems, the company said. Windows Vista and Windows Server Longhorn -- the code name for the next version of Microsoftâs server software -- will be the first products to ship with the antipiracy technologies, but they'll eventually be used in more of its products. Around 35 percent of all software installed worldwide in 2005 was pirated or unlicensed, Microsoft said, citing a figure from the Business Software Alliance, an industry group. More information isÂ available here.Â
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The owner of one of the nation's largest Internet software piracy Web sites has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison.  Nathan Peterson, 27, of Los Angeles, sold products copyrighted by companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc.
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(InfoWorld) - Continuing itsÂ worldwide assault on software piracy, Microsoft has filed 20 lawsuits against resellers accused of distributing unauthorized copies of its software. The lawsuits, filed against 20 resellers in the U.S., accuse the companies of either distributing counterfeit software on CDs or installing it on PCs that are then sold to consumers and businesses, a practice known as hard disk loading, Microsoft said Tuesday. The software maker filed the lawsuits in nine U.S. states. The names of the companies and the states where they are located are listed in a Microsoft statementÂ available here. Microsoft also announced the results of its first large-scale forensic analysis of counterfeit versions of Windows acquired in 17 countries. The company found that 34 percent of the 348 counterfeit copies analyzed could not be installed on computers, and that 43 percent contained additional programs that aren't part of Windows. The legal actions and the forensic analysis are part of Microsoft's broader Genuine Software Initiative, a program to protect the company's intellectual property. In 2005, MicrosoftÂ introduced Windows Genuine AdvantageÂ (WGA) as part of this initiative. WGA automatically checks that customers using Windows Update, Microsoft Update for Windows and the Microsoft Download Center have a legitimate version of Windows before they can download updates from those services.
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The Business Software Alliance is upping its efforts to track down software piracy in the workplace, increasing potential rewards for reporting copyright infringement to $1 million and kicking off a new "blow the whistle" campaign.
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Microsoft is trying to fight piracy in China by ensuring that more new computers in the region come with genuine copies of Windows pre-installed at the factory.
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By Alberto Alerigi SAO PAULO, Brazil  - Microsoft Corp. on  Wednesday launched its biggest initiative yet to combat rampantsoftware piracy in Brazil, allowing only registered customersaccess to "non-critical" updates of its Windows operatingsystem.
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The owner of one of the nation's largest Internet software piracy Web sites has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison.