9 replies to this topic

[EinReaper]

Hi everyone!
I'm sure most of you have heard that there's a world crises going on because of some stock market (or something) that collapsed in USA.
Well anyway, because of this Microsoft lost a LOT of money and they're trying to make it up by suing everything in sight.
This week I was at work when 2 policemen and some guy from an organization of authors' rights came and told me to check every PC in the firm for illegal software. They made print screens for 30 PCs, but they were only interested in Windows and Office licenses.
The only thing they found wrong was 5 Office versions and I don't mean that there were illegal copies, it's just that we've misplaced the licenses and couldn't find them.
Now I work in a subsidiary and they visited, at the same time, both that address and the HQ. Because of those 5 versions of Office and what they probably found at the HQ, Microsoft has sued my firm for 1 million dollars. (and remember that I live in Romania so that ammount of money is worth more because everything is cheaper than in some other countries from western Europe).
So if you have any illegal Microsoft products on your PC (especially Windows and/or Office) BE CAREFUL!! You could be next.

[tatati]

Seriously, they put a lawsuit straight away? Didn't they give it some time for your company to purchase the llicenses? Those bastards ;P your company should get away with a lesser fine.
A buch of microsoft's money goes out to pay those lawyers, they must have been put to work because theyre not operational therefore dead weight.

[-Sky-]

Pathetic. Microsoft sucks seriously. Just because they got sued for selling faulty Xbox 360s they want to search on computers in other companies for their software to check if they are licensed/legally brought.

I say stuff you Bill Gates, and your stupid company! (Microsoft). I doubt they will check my PC at my house, even though I have alot of 'things' that are illegal.

I have the following illegal things:

• Hacks
  
• Fraps_2.9.4_Build_7037
  
• Winamp_5.35_Pro

and a few other stuff.

-Sky

Edited by -Sky-, 09 November 2008 - 04:39 PM.

[EinReaper]

This is what I've learned from this situation (may not apply in your country):
- they (I mean the policemen) are not allowed to check a PC that is not fully functional; for example if you unplug the monitor and claim that the PC doesn't work they can not argue with you.
- they are not allowed to touch any PC (I made all the print screens they requested and they simply observed); if they touch a PC you can claim they've installed all the illegal software found on it; this is silly, but I didn't make the rules
- they are not allowed to check any PC that does not belong to the firm.
On the downside:
- you are not allowed to have a PC that does not belong to the firm inside the firm; when they came I had my laptop on my desk and I was really worried that they will check it because I had lot of illegal software in there. However this wasn't the case.
- if you have a PC that does not belong to your firm's (logical) domain (or you just had enough time to remove it from your firm's domain) you can claim it doesn't belong to the firm; they will tell you it shouldn't be inside the firm, but won't do anything about it.
I hope this may help people who might themselves in similar situations.
I'll let you know how the lawsuit turns out. As I said ... we can prove that the software they found is not illegal, but we can not prove we bought those exact product keys.

Edited by EinReaper, 09 November 2008 - 08:23 PM.

[minimcmonkey]

Wow, 5 office licences, $1M is a bit much.
Although if you could prove you had ever owned the licences, then they have no reason to believe you. However, surely it would have been more reasonable to demand you pay for the licences.

[Saint_Michael]

Well, that organization has some of the biggest companies that seek their protection and if I remember correctly you could get whole operations shut down if your whole company has some software you have no proof of purchase from. Luckily they only went after Microsoft products. However, the question who ratted your company out because that company usually doesn't get involved unless they get a wiff of something through their network only then will they pull a surprise inspection. Of course, they like to do random inspections as well to the much more visible companies but if your a small company then you can consider yourself done if you get caught.

[harrison858]

Wow, suing 1 million dollars for 5 lousy office products, which the licenses you misplaced.

Either Microsoft is really losing big money, or they're just trying to be plain old cheap. I know the economy and all, but suing a small company that can barely defend themselves? Gimme a break.

So did your company get sued already? Did the lawsuit go through?

[EinReaper]

Saint_Michael said:

However, the question who ratted your company out because that company usually doesn't get involved unless they get a wiff of something through their network only then will they pull a surprise inspection.

They did say that someone filed a complaint, but they couldn't say who it was (of course...).
Last month all pharmaceuticals distribuitors went on strike because they were importing medicine products which they paid for in euros (1 euro ~= 3,8 ron; ron = our currency), but they were forced by the government to sell the products at the exchange rate of 1 euro = 3,3 ron. This caused imense losses overall.
They Health Minister threatened to sue the pharmaceuticals distribuitors if they don't stop the strike so I imagine he or someone related to him had something to do with our surprise visit.
I work for one of the top 3 pharmaceuticals distribuitors in the country so perhaps they wanted to set an example.

Microsoft didn't ask for 1M$ only because of those 5 Office products they found in my subsidiary. I'm sure that they found more illegal products at the headquarters. I've heard recently that one of the employes lost his PC (the policemen confiscated it because there found too many illegal products installed).

I think the firm is trying to reach a settlement deal with Microsoft. I don't have anymore details for now.

Edited by EinReaper, 16 November 2008 - 08:24 AM.

[dragonfang00]

that really sucks.. here in the Philippines, Microsoft target shops dealing with computers like internet shops, printing, etc.. even popular restaurants has been victim of these raids.. for us, they're no ordinary policemen.. cause in our area, NBI agents are the one raiding companies and businesses.. and they're not just going about Microsoft's products.. as long as you have illegal software installed like adobe's then you're already in the list..

[Strikee]

I can't belive they could ask for a million dollar from a Romanian Firm. I mean.. I live here too and I know what a million dollars is for a regular firm!.
That amount of money is huge no mather who we're talking about but especially for a normal everyday company.
Anyway , as long as they don't come and search our homes for "ilegal" softwares I guess we'll be fine. The problem is not the users , it's the Distributers. In relatively poor countries it's normal for people to get something for free rather then paying for it , first of all because normally they can't afford to pay 100$ for a windows license (it's just an example I don't know how much it really costs) when the minimum wage is about 180-200$ , who could spent half a salary on a software?

RO: Despre ce firma e vorba ?