Microsoft sues company selling counterfeit Windows software
Microsoft has sued a Florida-based technology company that has allegedly sold counterfeit copies of Windows 7 and 8.1 software.
The complaint, filed at the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida on Friday, June 2, alleges trademark and copyright infringement.
In the complaint, Microsoft claimed that Tech Emporium advertises, markets, copies, offers and/or distributes “counterfeit and infringing copies of a variety of Microsoft software”.
According to the claim, on two occasions in June and October 2016, Tech Emporium sold unauthorised copies of the Windows software to a private investigator hired by Microsoft.
It further alleged that the company provided a certificate of authenticity for the software to the investigator.
“These are not isolated incidents, and defendants continue to be involved in advertising, marketing, copying, offering, and/or distributing counterfeit and infringing copies of a variety of Microsoft’s software,” the claim stated.
Microsoft owns a number of US trademarks, including ‘Windows’ and ‘Microsoft’. The company owns US trademark number 3,361,017, covering the coloured flag start button, and number 1,872,264 for the ‘Windows’ trademark.
It added that despite a cease-and-desist letter sent in August 2016, the “defendants have committed and are continuing to commit acts of copyright and trademark infringement against Microsoft”.
Microsoft is now seeking a court order to have Tech Emporium’s website disabled, as well as damages, injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees.
Last month , Microsoft also sued Hanson’s Geeks over computer software, claiming the company had distributed software and used Microsoft trademarks in online adverts.
Hanson’s Geeks was then enjoined from reproducing and distributing any unauthorised or counterfeit Microsoft goods, and ordered to pay statutory damages of $520,000, comprised of statutory damages of $120,000 under the Copyright Act and $400,000 under the Lanham Act.
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