• Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Friday, July 23, 2010 2:56 PM

As this week's quarterly earnings clearly show, Microsoft sells tons of software worldwide. However, the tech giant would likely sell tons more were it not for the tireless work of counterfeiters. Bloomberg investigates how Microsoft is working to rid the world of these thieves, one disk at a time.

"Microsoft employs 75 investigators, lawyers, and analysts -- many with experience in narcotics and Mafia cases -- in nine labs around the world," reports Bloomberg. "They're armed with maps that help pinpoint where suspect products are bought or seized by law enforcement, software that identifies digital fingerprints on discs, and a program that scours the Web for downloadable fakes. "In total, counterfeiting costs the software industry about $10 billion a year in lost revenue, estimates John Gantz, an analyst at IDC. Microsoft facsimiles likely represent the biggest piece of that. Indeed, in 2007 the company helped Chinese authorities break up a syndicate that had generated $2 billion in counterfeit Microsoft products. Last December, meanwhile, the company helped Indian police raid one of that country's largest resellers of Microsoft products, which was pairing legitimate goods with knockoffs to boost profits.

Read the whole story at Bloomberg BusinessWeek »