... Conducts raid in Bloom Electronics shop

Microsoft's recent raid in Coimb atore city has left the
market in jitters. About a week back, Microsoft conducted a software piracy raid
at Bloom Electronics, which is a leading reseller in the city. It is understood
that the raid had been carried out by Microsoft's legal agency from Delhi, along
with the Delhi High Court-appointed lawyer-commissioner.

It is also further said that the concerned authorities have
seized some materials (HDDs and CPUs) from the shop and serveda notice to Bloom
Electronics to give its response on or before October 5, 2005 in Delhi High
Court. Confirming theraid, G Sundaram, Director of Bloom Electronics said,
"We are not guilty. They do not have any proof against us for loading
pirated/ unlicensed software on to the system and selling it in the market. We
are clean and would emerge as a winner in this case."

Microsoft has however declined to comment on this issue,
saying it is under the purview of its legal wing. Of late, Microsoft is very
aggressive in its anti-piracy initiatives and has conducted several raids across
the country recently. While, in some cases it went for a simple settlement with
the resellers by accepting an undertaking from them that they would not deal with
pirated software anymore, in other issues it has filed a legal suit and fighting
out in the court.

Lately, the company won a case in its favor, where the Delhi
High Court had ordered Compton Computers to pay Rs 23.62lakh as damage to
Microsoft for indulging in loading pirated or unlicensed Microsoft software onto
the computer sassembled and sold to the customers.

Meanwhile, the resellers in the local market are quite
worried about the frequent raids conducted by the vendors. "It really
affects our business and the resellers are nervous who would be next. The
fear puts us down in business," said a leading reseller operating out from
the same market. "Microsoft should educate the buyers (customers) first who
demand for pirated/ unlicensed software from the resellers and Microsoft's
anti-piracy campaigns and initiatives should betargeted at them."

"We are very sure about dealing with only licensed
products. Even if a customer demands for pirated/ unlicensed software to be loaded
on to their system, we just provide them the components / products and leave it
to them. Today, end-customers have good contacts to get pirated software
easily," said another leading reseller.

"Bloom Electronics has all proof that it sold only
components to the customer and we have not involved in any unlawful activities.
Microsoft and its team had carried out the raid when the directors (my son S
Karthikeyan and I) were not in the company. They ransacked our office and took
some products in possession. All their accusations are baseless and we will
prove
them wrong," said Sundaram.

DQW News Burea