Microsoft continued its assault on Windows OS pirates with its fifth lawsuit accusing unidentified individuals of illegally activating more than 1,000 copies of its Windows operating system. The lawsuit was file in a courtroom last week, and like the other four suits, accuses a number of “John Does” of pirating Windows software. The software giant was able to track the allegedly illegal activations to an IP address, and stated that the numbers and patterns of those activations make it more plausible that the culprits were using stolen product keys.
“Defendants have activated and attempted to activate copies of Microsoft Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Office 2013, Office 2010, and Windows Server 2008,” the company charged. Microsoft’s complaint read that the company’s “cyberforensics have identified over one thousand activations of Microsoft software originating from IP address 69.92.99.109, which is presently assigned to Cable One, Inc.,”.
Microsoft is hoping to have the case assigned to the same federal judge who is overseeing the four other suits as they are related, and hopes (as with two of the other cases) they will be given permission to serve subpoenas to internet service providers Comcast and EarthLink, requiring the service providers to identify the software pirates who have been assigned the IP addresses Microsoft has tracked.