Microsoft Corp. filed federal lawsuits against two Colorado retailers today, in an effort to thwart alleged piracy of Windows and Office software programs.
Microcomp Solutions Inc. in Denver and Computers Plus USA Inc. in Grand Junction were among 26 companies sued for allegedly pirating software or installing unlicensed software on computers.
The piracy-related lawsuits are the most filed by the Redmond, Wash.-based computer giant on a single day. In 2005, the company filed a total of 50 piracy-related suits.
“We’ve been hearing from a number of small, honest system builders or resellers saying that they’re going out of business because they can’t compete with their competitors selling pirated software,” said Mary Jo Schrade, senior attorney for Microsoft. “Word has come through (chief executive)Steve Ballmer and now there’s a full-court press to address the piracy problem in the U.S. Our goal is to have piracy stopped, not file as many lawsuits as we can.”
Companies found guilty of counterfeiting Windows software face statutory damages and a maximum fine of $150,000 for each copyright infringement and maximum fine of $1 million for each trademark infringement.
Schrade said that a judge would set the fine based on the extent of each individual case.
Chu Son, co-owner and president of Microcomp Solutions said that he did not knowingly sell false copies of Microsoft Office. He said his company is focused on offering computer and network repair services to small and medium-sized businesses, not building and selling computers.
“I have legitimate invoices for those I bought,” he said. “If I sold a product that was illegitimate because I bought it from an illegitimate source, then why doesn’t Microsoft go and track them down?”
Microcomp had a previous run-in with Microsoft in 2001 and reached a settlement agreement. In that case, Chu said he also unknowingly purchased and resold software from a distributer selling fake copies of Microsoft software. There were no financial damages, just an agreement to cease selling illegal copies, Chu said.
“I’m not a big guy…I don’t have the resources to take Microsoft to court,” he said. “We want to go out charge customers $100 an hour to repair systems, not make money off of Microsoft. What what fool would do that after we settled once?”
Calls to Computers Plus USA were not returned.
Schrade said that the Microsoft doesn’t want the lawsuits to dissuade customers from purchasing computers from small, independent retailers, but warns customers to look for signs of counterfeit software.
“If the pricing is too good to be true, I’d advise to be careful,” she said. “If three place offer it for $100 and another place for $75, I would wonder about that. We don’t have any fire sales at Microsoft, we don’t discount old products when new ones come out.”
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-820-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
