How hard is the auction site eBay really trying to fight software piracy?

[mandy]

Microsoft and eBay are boasting of considerable wins in the fight to clamp down on the vast amounts of illegal software being sold on the auction site.

eBay is one of the most prolific channels for the trade in illegal software but the two companies say they are recording major wins against the pirates, claiming to have removed 21,000 bogus software lots since August.

However, a look over the site's auction rooms reveals there is still some considerable way to go before the trade in illegal software is significantly dented.

full article: http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,3...829,00.htm

related topics:
E-tailer unwittingly sold counterfeit software  http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...524.0.html
Risks of Buying Software on Auction Sites   http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...372.0.html

[jezebel]

Past research has suggested as much as 90 per cent of software sold on eBay may be pirated

Told you so 

The eBay spokesman

added that eBay has "no obligation to monitor its site for illegal content".

I have no obligation to go near your site when I'm buying software. 

[xppman]

The eBay spokesman
added that eBay has "no obligation to monitor its site for illegal content".

Unbelievable...
But actually the first truthful thing any ebay spokesman has said in a long time.

[mandy]

Update: Microsoft sues 8 eBay sellers:

Microsoft said Wednesday that it has filed lawsuits against eight sellers of what the software firm said were counterfeit copies of its software. Microsoft said the sellers all used eBay for their transactions.

Most were accused of selling versions of Windows XP, but the alleged bootleg software in question also included versions of Office 2002 and 2003. The complaints were filed in U.S. Federal District Courts across the country from Massachusetts to Hawaii...

Microsoft said it caught seven of the defendants when their customers used Microsoft's online software validation tool, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Program. WGA offers users the opportunity to report counterfeit reports when they don't receive approved Microsoft software.

In announcing the filing of the eight cases, Microsoft noted that the Business Software Alliance, a trade association, has reported that 21 percent of software in the U.S. is pirated.

full article: http://informationweek.com/story/showArt...=181503959

[mandy]

Update: the software industry is to begin a major push against sellers sellerspirated software on eBay and other auction sites

Major Push Coming Against Software Pirates On Auction Sites

A software industry trade group plans to launch next week a major initiative against software piracy on EBay Inc. and other popular online auction sites by filing its first round of lawsuits.

The Software and Information Industry Association, a major trade group for the software and digital content industry, will unveil the Auction Litigation Program Tuesday at a San Francisco news conference, the organization's public relations firm said in an email. The first round of lawsuits would be filed Monday in Los Angeles.

Under the program, the SIIA would monitor auction sites, identify individuals and groups selling pirated software and sue suspected pirates on behalf of its members...

full article: http://www.informationweek.com/news/show...=187202368

[mandy]

The crackdown has begun, 5 eBay sellers sued in 3 separate lawsuits by SIIA for piracy:

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), working on behalf of its member companies, filed three lawsuits today in the US District Court, Central District of California, charging that at least three separate defendants knowingly sold pirated software through the popular online auction site eBay. The suits are the first filed under SIIA's new Auction Litigation Program, which aims to monitor popular online auction sites, identify individuals or groups selling pirated software and prosecute those pirates on behalf of the association's member companies.

Today's lawsuits reference three instances of software pirated from Symantec Corporation (Symantec) and McAfee, Inc. (McAfee) sold through eBay auctions between October 2005 and December 2005. Pirated copies of Symantec's Norton SystemWorks 2005 Premier, Norton Ghost 9.0, Norton pcAnywhere 11.5 and Norton PartitionMagic 8.0, and McAfee's Virus Scan 9.0 were sold by at least three different individuals. The exact total of software pirates has not yet been ascertained because it is likely that at least one individual is using multiple aliases...

full press release: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060516/dctu003.html?.v=57

Computer software makers launched a crackdown on illegal Internet sales of their products Tuesday by suing suspected pirates who have set up shop on the popular online auction site eBay Inc.

Usually fierce rivals Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc. teamed up to kick off the crusade by targeting five different eBay sellers in three lawsuits filed Monday in a Los Angeles federal court.

"If online marketplaces are going to pursue the free-market ideals that they aspire to, they must make sure the products they sell are authentic," said Joe Fitzgerald, Symantec's vice president of intellectual property...

The industry believes 90 percent of all software sold on Internet auctions violates copyrights or licensing agreements...

full article: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1970209

[mandy]

The latest development in the battle against sales of pirated software on online auction sites:

Microsoft is planning to file more than 50 lawsuits worldwide against online merchants who allegedly peddle counterfeit software on popular auction sites.

The actions include 15 lawsuits in the US, 10 in Germany, 10 in the Netherlands, and five each in France and the United Kingdom, it said. Additional cases are being filed in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Korea and Poland.

Matt Lundy, a senior attorney at Microsoft, said: "This is a worldwide enforcement against sellers of counterfeit software on online auction sites. We're finding more and more that auction sites are becoming a popular way for counterfeiters to distribute counterfeit software to consumers."...

The new cases are against sellers who allegedly misused auction-site accounts, such as eBay, to sell counterfeit software to consumers and businesses...

full article: http://software.silicon.com/applications...721,00.htm

[cranky_hippie]

>
Ebay still plays dumb. I bought some bootleg software thinking it was previously used not fake. When it arrived, it was clearly bootleg and junk as well. After I reported the seller, she continued to sell the same software. Ebay had no interest at all in the emails that she had sent me in which she claimed that she was licensed to sell this software but would not produce the proof. They were not interested in my proof to them that the software company did not license anyone to sell their software. They didn't want to see the pics of the obviously phony discs.

They didn't give a sh.it. They lie. 

I got my money back but Ebay let her keep taking advantage of the clueless and let her continue to screw the software company. 

[xppman]

How do you think they keep making record profits?

eBay the number ONE online fence operation of the WORLD

If you don't mind me asking.. how did you get your money back?

[cranky_hippie]

If you don't mind me asking.. how did you get your money back?

Threatened the seller with a chargeback and called Paypal on the phone and told them I was not waiting for them to dink around. Either give me back my money or bite me.