US and Chinese officials announced today that they have busted two Chinese software piracy groups in possession of illegal software with an "estimated retail value" of close to $500 million. The groups operated out of Shanghai and Shenzhen, and sold much of the software through the Internet, according to the FBI.Related Stories * By the numbers: piracy rate in China down 10 percent * US says China isn't doing enough about piracy, files complaint with WTO * Fox to sell low-cost DVDs in China to combat piracy * Microsoft, Lenovo take aim at piracy with $1.3 billion dealThe FBI and Chinese police have also made 25 arrests in connection with the piracy gangs in China since 2005 in an operation code-named "Summer Solstice." Officials had previously discovered that one of the groups, the MA Ke Pei organization, was conducting deals with suspects in the US, according to the FBI's Los Angeles division, which kicked off a joint investigation between US and Chinese officials. Since then, officials have seized some 300,000 counterfeit discs from those individuals, which the FBI estimates at over $7 million.The groups primarily targeted applications made by Microsoft and Symantec (insert smarmy comment about pirates wishing to protect themselves from viruses here). Microsoft claims that these particular groups were responsible for distributing "more than $2 billion worth of counterfeit Microsoft software" since their inception and that copies were available in at least eight different languages. That's right: the illegal software produced in China wasn't kept in China. The FBI estimates that 70 percent of the software was sold to the US, with the other 30 percent going to other countries around the world."This case represents a milestone in the fight against software piracy—governments, law enforcement agencies and private companies working together with customers and software resellers to break up a massive international counterfeiting ring," said Microsoft senior VP Brad Smith in a statement. "This case should serve as a wake-up call to counterfeiters. Customers around the world are turning you in, governments and law enforcement have had enough, and private companies will act decisively to protect intellectual property."The move comes just months after the Office of the US Trade Representative fingered China as being atop its annual "Priority Watch List" because of widespread piracy. The Chinese government had previously signed an agreement saying that it would make better efforts to crack down on piracy within the country after the US complained to the World Trade Organization about China's inaction. However, a study published in May by the Business Software Alliance and IDC said that piracy in China was actually down 10 percent since 2003, bringing new hope to China's efforts to enforce copyright and intellectual property laws.
