In a scene reminiscent of what Microsoft has done since the early days of MS-DOS, the global software behemoth today unveiled 20 lawsuits targeted at sellers of counterfeit and fake software bearing the Microsoft name. This is nothing new, but attempts to safeguard Microsoft's intellectual property in recent years with technology such as product activation have been met with equally-swift pirating to the extent of lost billions per year for the software maker.

In addition to counterfeit software and selling illegal copies of Microsoft products like Windows and the Office productivity suite, Microsoft went after pirates who load certain Microsoft products directly on the hard drives of computers -- meaning there is no physical counterfeiting going on here. This does not matter, as much software these days has no physical media anyway. If a software pirate does not pay Microsoft for the license to install Microsoft software onto a customer's computer, that's illegal activity.

Although Microsoft has made great strides against the pirating of its software in recent years (the PacRim area being one of the most prevalent places for piracy), Ole' Softie may be able to recoup a few precious greenbacks from these just-announced lawsuits, while hopefully scaring the heebie-jeebies from potential software pirates who are probably doing the same things to this day. With hardware margins in the PC biz being so razor-thin, corners must be cut somewhere most likely. Just don't cross Microsoft.