Microsoft on Thursday announced 63 legal actions in 12 countries against online auctioneers who allegedly orchestrated international marketing schemes and sold counterfeit software to unsuspecting customers. Of the actions, 16 were taken in the United States; 12 in Germany; 12 in France; and seven in the United Kingdom as well as proceedings in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand. Most of the cases involved counterfeit Windows XP software -- a product line that is coming to the end of its sales cycle but genuine XP products are still available through some channels.In recent months, Microsoft received complaints from victims of a new online auction scheme by auctioneers selling discounted software from a fabricated marketing program dubbed “Blue Edition.” The entirely fictional “Blue Edition” scheme fools unsuspecting consumers into purchasing low-quality counterfeit software burned onto a compact disc, the company said. Certain online auction sites like eBay proactively cooperated with Microsoft in its investigations and none of the latest actions were brought against the sites themselves. The lawsuits were part of Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative, a program intended to advance antipiracy education within the software ecosystem.
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