Microsoft issues legal notice to resellers

In an anti-piracy initiative, Microsoft issued a legal notice
to five resellers in the Coimbatore market. It is understood that Microsoft has
filed a case against these resellers in the Delhi High Court, through its
attorney Anand and Anand Associates. Lakshya Computer and Mobile, Galaxy
Computer Land, Add-on Computers, Configure Systems and Pioneer Info Solution are
the five resellers from Coimbatore who were asked to appear in the High Court of
Delhi on May 10 to face the charges.

It all started about two months back when Microsoft was going
aggressive with its anti-piracy campaign across the country. The company has
conducted surprise checks and raids at resellers' office and also forwarded a
communiqué in some cases inviting resellers for negotiation.

"We were ready for their settlement terms except for
signing an agreement stating that we would not deal with pirated software. In
fact, we have not dealt with it till date in business. So, we did not accept to
their condition, which has invited a legal notice now," said a leading
reseller from Coimbatore.

According to market reports, Microsoft, in its communiqué (The DQ Week holds
a copy of it), had asked resellers to meet one Bharatvir Singh for
negotiations, who had traveled to Madurai and Coimbatore to meet partners.
"Singh was not ready to hear anything from our side. He asked us only to
pay some money (it differed from reseller to reseller) and sign an agreement. If
not, he asked us to leave the place and face the legal battle in court. It is
not fair on the part of Microsoft to handle a case like this. The company should
give us an opportunity to present our case," said another reseller from the
same market, who is also facing the charges.

Meanwhile, when The DQ Week spoke to a few resellers
in Madurai who were also invited for negotiations, they said the issue had been
solved amicably by paying the money and also signing a declaration provided by
Microsoft.

"We were called for a meeting by Singh at Taj Garden
Retreat on December 17, 2005. He asked us to pay Rs 1 lakh towards incidental
charges and also sign an agreement copy stating that the company would not deal
with pirated software anymore. If not, he asked us to face a legal battle. I
know I would not be able to challenge the giant and we have heard about the many
ongoing cases where resellers are intimidated. So, I negotiated with him and
agreed to pay Rs 60,000 and sign on the papers, according to his
directions," said a leading reseller from Madurai. The reseller has paid
the money directly to Microsoft Corporation, USA through a demand draft (in
dollars).

"Singh was audio recording all the proceedings
(discussions) and only during negotiations, he put it off. We have signed the
papers as per his guidance. Overall, Microsoft is also trying to take
commitments from resellers that they have to buy certain number of software, on
a monthly basis, from its distributor," said another leading reseller in
Madurai.

"It is nothing but a threatening act. Who is there to
challenge Microsoft? And, will the channel raise together to question Microsoft's
acts? The company knows the weakness of the channel community and is playing with it. If they are serious
about their anti-piracy drive, they should first start educating end-users. We
just sell the PC and customers can load anything onto their computer. Resellers
should not be held responsible for it," said another affected reseller from
Coimbatore.

Rohit Singh, Director, Vedant Infosys, Kolkata holds a
similar opinion. According to Singh, "The software piracy drive initiated
by Microsoft is a right step. It is good that they have taken up this issue and
are more focused on their products. But the first thing that they should do is
make more efforts to generate end user awareness."

He suggested that the vendor should also revise its product
prices, pointing out this was the main reason people are inclined towards
pirated software. "Before, like everyone, we used to sell pirated software
but have stopped for the past four months. We are now totally focused on selling
genuine software. But due to the high price factor, it becomes very difficult to
convince the customer," he added.

Vedant Infosys has sold more genuine Microsoft software than
before in the past four years. Rohit Singh pointed out that if the vendor brings
down prices, customers will automatically turn to genuine software and piracy
will come down, benefiting partners and Microsoft.

GK Mishra, Director, Kolkata-based Jayco Exports agreed and
said that end-customer education and price reduction are the best ways for
diminishing piracy. "Abroad, genuine software costs about $10 to $15 and
here it costs Rs 4,000 or more. That is a big difference. We try our best

to convince customers to go for genuine software. Now it is up to Microsoft on how
they will plan to completely erase the pirated market and increase the sale of
their genuine software."

There is another section of resellers who are highly
skeptical when it comes to the company's ways of identifying pirates. "I
don't know what sort of intelligence they have before conducting such raids on
companies. It is ironic to see that most of the companies targeted by Microsoft are not

at all involved in piracy. And this is the reason why we still see products like Microsoft XP being sold at dirt cheap prices at all the
prominent places," complained a New Delhi-based reseller on conditions of anonymity.

Similar views can be heard from places like Chandigarh and
Lucknow. Here also the company has been increasing its anti-piracy campaign.
"We are not against this campaign. But we feel that the company should
target people who are involved in this business on a large scale. So far they
are not going after the 'big fish' and only companies with one or two
pirated copies of the software are facing the music," added one reseller
from Chandigarh.

The DQ Week also tried to get comments from Anand and
Anand Associates, which refused to speak on this topic saying, "As an
attorney, we are not supposed to talk on this issue. And, it is an obligation
and professional courtesy from our side not to discuss anything about it."

Meanwhile, in an official communiqué to our newspaper,
Microsoft said, "Microsoft believes in supporting and encouraging the
honest system builder and leveling the playing field for them. Customers want
only genuine MS software and the company is working towards ensuring the same.
In this endeavor, MS takes periodic litigation and non-litigation action against
errant resellers who indulge in sale or distribution of pirated or unlicensed
software. The effort is to support a honest channel members and take action only
against those who grossly violate the copyright/trademark laws. The other issue
that the industry is facing is that of counterfeit software. There is a
possibility that if small time violators proliferate they can soon get mixed
with organized crime particularly when they start selling high quality
counterfeits, an issue which has started to make inroads in India. So Microsoft
is trying in its various actions, programs and messaging to bring awareness to
the channel community as well as

the end-users the dangers of counterfeiting."

Microsoft's license compliance initiatives involve three
steps: Educate, Enforce and Engage, it added. Meanwhile, just as this story went
to the press, there was another news that Microsoft has conducted raids in a
reseller's shop in Kerala.

So, looks like the war is still on.

S GOPIKRISHNA