Microsoft Settles With Disc Replicator

Microsoft on Tuesday announced a settlement with one of its disc replication partners, after the company admitted it had breached agreements with Microsoft by unlawfully producing the Redmond company's server software.

A multi-year investigation found that the Thai office of MPO Group relied on a forged licensing agreement provided to it by a counterfeiter who had 20,000 copies of Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server produced in 2003. Microsoft said it does not license software to be reproduced in this way.

Some of the discs have since been confiscated in court-authorized searches and test purchases. By producing the discs for a third-party, MPO committed both trademark and license infringement, and breached its agreement with Microsoft, the company said.

MPO has since admitted to the mistake, and will pay Microsoft a multi-million dollar cash settlement. Additionally, the company cooperated in the investigation to track down the counterfeited software it had produced.

"We appreciate the steps MPO has taken to tighten their security procedures to prevent a recurrence of this type of wholesale counterfeiting of Microsoft software, and to help track down all those responsible for distributing the counterfeits," Microsoft associate general counsel David Finn said.

Microsoft will continue to have a working relationship with MPO, the two companies said in a statement. Based in Averton, France, the company has operations in both Ireland and Thailand.

Counterfeit software continues to be a major problem for the industry. Interest group the Business Software Alliance estimates that 35 percent of all software used worldwide is counterfeit.