China Cracks Down on Software Pirates

Microsoft reports that a court in China has convicted 11 people for manufacturing and distributing counterfeited software. The Middle Kingdom has been under pressure to enforce stricter laws on intellectual property by technology corporations eager to enter but wary of piracy losses.

Sentences meted out as a result of this trial range from one and a half year to six and a half years. Microsoft claims this particular counterfeiting syndicate was among the largest around. It had distributed copies of 19 products including Vista, XP and Office in 11 languages in 36 countries. Counterfeits traced to this source had been discovered in over 300 American cities. Microsoft had been tracking the cabal since 2001 knowing that its output exceeded that of original Microsoft products and had resulted in losses of 2 billion dollars.

Microsoft is proud of having obtained evidence from thousands of customers who helped identify pirated software.

But pirated software remains rampant around the world particularly in Third World countries where the price of originals would preclude usage by all except major corporations. Textbook providers circumvented the problem by issuing reduced price editions for the Third World that limited the urge for piracy. Would it be practical for Microsoft to consider implementing such a scheme?