Total pirated software attack on eBay

Software firms have just launched a campaign to suppress illegal piracy of software on the Internet, starting with suing "shop builders" to sell software on the huge auction market.

Symantec and McAfee, who hate each other in the first place, stand side by side, initiating a sweeping campaign. Three lawsuits were filed in a federal court in Los Angeles, accusing five sellers on eBay of "suspected piracy of copying software".

" If online" markets "want to pursue the ideal idea of ​​the free market they are expecting, first of all, they must make sure that the items sold in the market are genuine. " , Symantec's vice president of intellectual property said.

Review and scour

The top two security software companies decided to sue after finding a series of evidence that the five individuals had sold more than 15,000 pirated software in the period from October 2005 to December 2005.

McAfee and Symantec are currently working with the Information Industry Association and software to review and "patrol" the eBay marketplace and many other online auction sites, uncovering unauthorized software dealers.

They said they would impersonate customers to buy these counterfeit software in auctions, then sue the sellers without warning. However, this campaign does not target eBay or those who have bought copy software.

Heavy damage

When reporters contacted 5 individuals who were sued, 1 person claimed to not do anything "wrong". However, before the reporter could ask, the phone signal was cut off. A person's auction registration is no longer active and all attempts to communicate by phone with her are unsuccessful. The other two people did not reply to the email and turned negative.

According to the lawsuit, these five people are required to pay compensation (how much is unknown) and must permanently terminate violations of copyright and commercial trademarks in the future.

For years, software companies have repeatedly complained that pirated software has caused heavy losses to their revenue. According to estimates, this loss amounted to 11 billion - 12 billion USD / year.

The software industry believes that 90% of the software being sold on online auctions now violates copyright or licensing agreements. Of course, this judgment was strongly disputed by eBay.

Thien Y