Fake.

There’s not any of that kind event as Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise Blue Edition, or anything marketed by Microsoft as a “Blue Edition.” But software pirates still managed to sell copies of the fraudulent copy software for $9.95, burned onto hipped discs and backed by a plausible-sounding story of their provenance. Today, Microsoft announced a unevenness of lawsuits targeting these software pirates and others involved in selling fakes through online auction sites.

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The company is also reminding consumers to carefully vet their software purchases, particularly if they’re bargain hunting.

“The whole ‘Blue Edition’ software is a fabricated pretension by the agency of pirates made up out of entire cloth, in order to deceive consumers into buying this low-quality spurious software,” said Matt Lundy, a senior Microsoft attorney focused on anti-piracy efforts.

“Consumers need to limb themselves with information so that what seems to be a bargain on software doesn’t turn out to be a counterfeit … with malware attached that causes your computer to irreversibly crash six months from now,” he said. Microsoft offers www.howtotell.com in the same proportion that a appliance to help family track piracy and counterfeiting information.

The pirates marketing notice is usually a variation on the following (hogwash):

“There’s wholly a big chance that you’ve not at all heard of this ‘Blue Edition’, because - it is only available to equipment manufacturers and not to the whole persons. This is the copy from the original disk, which is (as said before) only accessible to technicians of Microsoft.

“This lection of Microsoft Office 2007 will never appear for sale, since this is the only interpretation where there is no need conducive to a serial. This rendition also doesn’t need one activation.”

Microsoft became cognizant of the scheme several months ago, Lundy said. It represents a new tactic for pirates who in the past have concentrated on high-quality forgeries designed to reproduce the look and suffer of genuine Microsoft software, including holograms and other security features.

“They’re enticing the sale through this claim that it’s part of a marketing devastate because the pirates allow they can’privately convince people that it looks approve the genuine Microsoft product,” he said. “So they try to create this elaborate cabal to fool people into thinking they’re getting a special deal or a break because of an overrun.”

“We admitted a number of complaints from consumers about their purchase of Blue Edition,” Lundy said.

Microsoft is monitoring online auction sites and has secluded auctions from hundreds of sellers, primarily in North America, peddling the bogus goods. As a last resort, he said, Microsoft files lawsuits as it’session doing today.

“The number of online marketplaces that pirates are using and abusing are increasing. The area of reach of pirates from all over the world is increasing. The types of schemes that are out there are increasing,” he said.

The lawsuits Microsoft is filing cover 63 cases in 12 countries and touch 21 online market sites, including major brands preference Amazon and eBay:

www.amazon.com, www.anywherepc.com, www.cheapestsoftwareanywhere.com, www.computerdoctorofmiami.com, www.computerrepairportal.com, www.craigslist.org, www.crossloop.com, www.eBay.com, www.ebid.net, www.elitestores.trap, www.insiderpages.com, www.ioffer.com, www.laptopsandmoreinc.com, www.myspace.com, www.NextTag.com, www.pcworld.com, www.Pricegrabber.com, www.sell.com, www.shopmsn.com, www.superpages.com, and www.ubid.com.

“We hold pirates amenable for piracy,” Lundy said, not the auction sites.


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