Microsoft have just announced that they are to sue the UK electronics chain Comet for allegedly selling over 94,000 illicit copies of Windows XP and Vista (although probably mostly XP!!)  to unsuspecting retailers when purchasig new PCs. The pirate media was supposedly created in a Hampshire manufacturing base. Microsoft said:

“As detailed in the complaint filed today, Comet produced and sold thousands of counterfeit Windows CDs to unsuspecting customers in the United Kingdom,” said David Finn, associate general counsel, Worldwide Anti-Piracy and Anti-Counterfeiting at Microsoft. “Comet’s actions were unfair to customers. We expect better from retailers of Microsoft products — and our customers deserve better, too.”

This legal wrangle comes as Microsoft step up their efforts to thwart the pirates from releasing their Windows 8 2 weeks before the official launch – as DrinkorDie did with Windows 95 back in the day.