Microsoft Sues 8 Firms Over Software Sales

SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it filed suit against eight California companies, charging them with selling illegal copies of its Windows 95 and Office software at computer swap meets and trade shows in the Southland.

Named in the suit are: Cybertech Connections Inc. of Walnut; MXN International Inc. of Walnut; Omnix Technology Corp. of City of Industry; Pan Computer & Service of Santa Ana; Radius Enterprises Co. Inc. of Azusa; Syscon Technology, doing business as American STI Inc., of Rosemead; Vatadata Systems of Monterey Park; and Vitech Electronics Inc. of City of Industry.

The companies named in the suit could not be reached for comment.

All eight firms were accused of selling counterfeit copies of Microsoft’s popular Windows 95 operating system and its Office Pro 97 software, either directly or pre-installed on computer hard drives. In addition, Syscon Technology was accused of selling counterfeit mouses.

As part of a three-month undercover sweep of trade shows and swap meets in Southern California, Microsoft investigated 13 companies. Five companies have already settled with the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant.

Microsoft investigated swap meets run by National Promotions in Buena Park, Reseda and Santa Barbara, along with an American Mega Show swap meet in Northridge, a Computer Super Shows event in Riverside, and a Market Pro swap meet in Ventura.

“Microsoft has never before filed so many lawsuits resulting from a single hard-disk-loading sweep,” Jim Lowe, a Microsoft attorney, said in a statement. “This confirms that consumers need to be aware of how much illegal product is distributed at swap meets.”

“We primarily target the types of vendors that do not conduct business the way a legitimate company would,” said one undercover Microsoft investigator. “This can include companies that are reluctant to provide identifying information such as addresses and telephone numbers, those that appear to do the vast majority of their business at computer swap meets only, and those selling software or preloaded computer systems for well below the prices of legitimate retailers. If the price seems too good to be true, it generally is.”