$500M Piracy Ring Busted In China

Blahbooboo3 writes "Reported by several news organizations, pirated software worth more than $500 million has been seized by authorities in China as part of a joint operation run by Chinese police and the FBI. Microsoft estimates that the software piracy of an international counterfeiting syndicate, over the past six years, cost the company at least $2 billion in lost software revenue. Microsoft said that key information in the investigation came from its Windows Genuine Advantage program, an anti-piracy system that can check whether an OS is legit. It's generally accepted that Microsoft has done well out of software piracy: it helps products become widely used, and as the market matures, people start to pay for their software. And this has been a major factor in Windows beating Linux in China, as Bill Gates has admitted."

Codename "Summer Solstice"

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Codename "Summer Solstice" - no, not a porn film, but the name of the FBI operation [fbi.gov] encompassing multiple copyright investigations - including the one in question.

(link is to the FBI press release for this case).

Re:$500 million

[skoaldipper]

Software? How about movies? Shoot, crack down on that and everyone in Hollywood could be eating caviar and crapping gold bricks. Oh, wait. They already do.

Estoppel by silence

[Futurepower(R)]

Estoppel by silence: "A type of estoppel that prevents a person from asserting something when she had both the duty and the opportunity to speak up earlier..."

Re:As the market matures

[Chief Wongoller]

Yes. The vast majority of fledling Chinese businesses simply cannot afford the genuine artice, so pirated versions are the only option. Both Microsoft and the Chinese government are well aware of this. Microsoft tolerate it because they view it as a kind of loss leader. It's a bit like offering interest free credit on your new PC. Initially the corporation loses money, but in the long run the consumer pays more, and the corporation has a much larger market sown-up than it would have had if the consumers had paid a market price (because effectively their getting the same product, but at a discount)if the first place.

Re:Ob chinky joke

[Anonymous Coward]

How is incorrect steriotypes considered funny? The Chinese actually are the asian country with a distinct R and L sound. Those without that distinction pronounce R as L. Not L as R. And no I'm not Asian. Please do buy a clue in the future please. Or ya know...get the hell out of your own country.