Industry committee  A couple of weeks ago, Bill Gates appeared in China and made an announcement about an initiative that Microsoft is engaging in. As you may know, there's a concept around of the “digital divide”. The reality is that while many of us, particularly in Canada, have the benefit of t

Industry committee  Absolutely. One of the comments I make about the problems with piracy and counterfeiting is that they deter local software developers. It is unfortunate that there are very few companies that have the resources to go after this problem.

Industry committee  I think it's fair to say it would deter piracy. The reality is that as hard as Microsoft works on the civil side to go after people, criminal sanctions, particularly if they are significant, would be a considerably stronger deterrent to people's actions. As I mentioned to your co

Industry committee  In Canada we are spending over $1 million a year.

Industry committee  Our policy recommendation in terms of labels?

Industry committee  Probably all of you who have laptops have, underneath, a certificate of authenticity label. What you're seeing is a movement away from high-end counterfeit of products like Windows and Office to people who are just distributing the label. What they'll do is take cheap knock-offs,

Industry committee  In answer to your latter question, yes, we bring probably 10 to 20 anti-piracy cases a year. The particular one to which you're referring we call the Interplus case. It was quite a significant achievement for us in that it took us, I believe, six years to get it to trial. It went

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Michael Hilliard and I am corporate counsel for Microsoft in Canada. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee to share with you a few thoughts on the importance of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, in