The businesses, located in the Pittsburgh area, allegedly persisted in distributing counterfeit software to unsuspecting consumers despite prior requests from Microsoft to stop. The 'too good to be true' pricing that disreputable software distributors advertise these days make it hard to compete on an even playing field. As we assist our clients to adopt compliance strategies, we appreciate the efforts of Microsoft and others in the software industry to clean up the software distribution channel to ensure that consumers get genuine products and resellers can compete fairly. To help avoid being victims of fraud, it's important for consumers to be smart shoppers and thoroughly research the products they're interested in buying - particularly on the Internet. We will continue our work to combat software piracy through technology, education and, when necessary, by taking legal action against companies that sell illegal software so customers feel confident they are receiving genuine software.
Software piracy has a severe negative impact on state and local economies across the country.
According to a study released in 1999 by International Planning and Research Corp., the average piracy rate in the United States is 25 percent, which means that one in four computers is running pirated software. Additional information about the economic impact of software piracy on the Pennsylvania economy will be released in a study the BSA is announcing next week. Anti-piracy efforts in Pennsylvania have stepped up in recent months. A few weeks ago the BSA held a truce period in Pittsburgh during which customers, including small businesses, were encouraged to review their software and ensure its compliance. Jim Halkias, the primary owner of the alleged counterfeit operation Automated Distributing Inc. located in Harrisburg, has been indicted on 18 counts of trafficking counterfeit goods in Pennsylvania for the alleged distribution 8,000 copies of counterfeit Microsoft software.