"We have spent the past few months determining the extent of the problem, identifying individuals and businesses at the heart of it and trying to educate them about the proper use of COAs," said senior Microsoft lawyer Bonnie MacNaughton yesterday, adding that the company is taking legal action against "some of the most egregious offenders."
A Certificate of Authenticity label is used to identify genuine Microsoft software, and is attached to the PC chassis for pre-installed software, or to the software packaging when the software is acquired separately from the computer.
It contains anti-counterfeiting features to help verify the software's authenticity and a product key code, used if the operating system needs to be reinstalled and to obtain technical support or upgrades.
Microsoft says counterfeit labels are sometimes distributed and positioned as valid software licenses by businesses on the internet. And in a practice known as hard-disk loading, stand-alone COA labels are often purchased by computer manufacturers that copy unlicensed Microsoft software onto computer systems and attempt to authenticate it with the invalid labels.
Another abuse of COA labels involves software resellers pairing the separated labels with unlicensed or counterfeit software. According to Microsoft, such companies unfairly compete in the marketplace with the thousands of legitimate Microsoft partners that deliver honest value to their customers.