Continuing to Protect our Legitimate Channel Partners and Customers - 4 New Lawsuits Filed

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In a continuing effort to help protect our legitimate reselling Partners and customers, Microsoft has filed four new lawsuits against:

1) #9 Software, Inc., Hampton, Virginia
2) CEO Microsystems, Inc. of Irvine, California
3) East Outlet, LLC and Super Supplier LLC, Newport News, Virginia
4) Wiston Group, Inc. of Walnut, California

You can view the details of each of these along with several other lawsuits we have filed in the past at: https://www.microsoft.com/piracy/partners/alerts.mspx. Several of these cases include the sales of Certificates of Authenticity (COAs) by themselves, which is illegal and a topic we have discussed in our User Group before. If you see someone advertising Certificates of Authenticity (COAs) by themselves or other suspicious Microsoft software, please report these activities through:

1) Email: piracy@microsoft.com
2) Online: https://www.microsoft.com/piracy
3) Phone: 1-800-RU-LEGIT

For those of you who still question if Microsoft responds to leads through these venues, take heart in knowing that most of these four new lawsuits came about through leads we received through them.

“A sample of complaints received through Microsoft's 1-800-RU-LEGIT phone line make this clear: #9 Software Inc. had 112 complaints from consumers and businesses in 35 states and Canada; CEO Microsystems Inc. had 66 complaints coming from 20 different states; and Super Supplier LLC had 18 complaints from people in 13 states.” – See more at: https://www.integratedmar.com/ecl-usa/story.cfm?item=19621

Again, protecting our legitimate channel Partners and customers is a top priority for us here at Microsoft. Please continue to report suspicious activities to us so that we can continue to assist you in combating illegal/counterfeit software. Remember, if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. Be sure to check out my post from June 6th and/or the, “Things you NEED to know about OEM software. MANY misconceptions exist today,” and other videos located in the Common Questions and Misconceptions section of the Microsoft Small Business Channel Community Site: https://www.mssmallbiz.com for tips on things to watch for.

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman
Microsoft US Senior Manager
Small Business Community Engagement