Microsoft flexes their legal muscles by bringing UK electronics retailer giant Comet to the courts after the software giant accused the store chain of creating and selling up to 94,000 copies of unauthorized “recovery” CDs to customers who still have Windows XP and Windows Vista as their operating systems of choice, and these acts were alleged to have happened sometime in between March 2008 and December 2009. The Guardian paper reports that Comet vehemently disputes the claims, touting that they acted out of the best interests of its customers as Microsoft had already stopped supplying recovery discs with each new computer sold. The reason behind Comet’s act was to offer customers a means to recover their Windows-based machine just in case there is a hard drive failure.
Microsoft lawyer David Finn mentioned in a statement to the Guardian, “As detailed in the complaint filed today, Comet produced and sold thousands of counterfeit Windows CDs to unsuspecting customers in the United Kingdom. Comet’s actions were unfair to customers. We expect better from retailers of Microsoft products — and our customers deserve better, too.” Microsoft has gone forward to inform folks who might have picked up these recovery discs from Comet to check their “How to Tell” page so that a fake can be weeded out from the original. Who do you think is right in this case?