Is that copy of Windows you're using a legal one? Are you sure? Counterfeit software is showing an increasing retail presence, according to experts presenting at this year's Kestenberg Siegal Lipkus LLP anti-counterfeiting conference this week in Ontario. The pirated software is slowly making a shift off of the Internet and into the hands of otherwise trusting customers, they said, and is becoming more difficult for customers to separate the wheat from the counterfeit chaff.
The situation comes into play when retailers start buying their products from third parties that may not be authorized distributors. "Some retailers aren't doing their due diligence when it comes to making sure these goods are legitimate," said Superintendent Ken Hansen of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police force, according to IT Business.ca.
Greg Meyers from Tech Data Canada emphasized what may seem obvious to some of us: that the risks of selling pirated copies of software are huge, "and it's also horrible publicity for your company." We would imagine so.
Indeed, it appears as if counterfeit software has been making more of a foray into the real world lately, but not without consequences. Selling illegal software offline is considerably more risky than keeping it to the 'tubes, after all. In 2004, the FBI charged 11 individuals with conspiring to sell pirated software—along with documentation and packaging—valued at over $80 million. In 2006, Microsoft went after 55 software resellers in 11 countries for selling copies of Windows that failed the Windows Genuine Advantage program. Symantec then sued a handful of distributors and their affiliates for selling hard copies of its antivirus and security software. Finally, a Georgia man was handed four years in jail this year for selling counterfeit copies of Windows, complete with (real) authenticity stickers ganked from previously-opened real copies of the software.
It's encouraging to see that law enforcement is staying on top of this shift, as this is the kind of piracy that actually hurts both businesses and consumers. While it would certainly not be fun to discover that a software package you purchased in a brick-and-mortar store is counterfeit, the situation can likely be avoided by sticking to well-known retailers with good reputations.
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