Software giant Microsoft has filed 21 lawsuits against "software pirates" in 14 U.S. states. Microsoft claims that the defendants in the suits sold or illegally copied DVDs of Microsoft software or built PCs with illegal copies of the company's software already installed.

According to Siliconvalley.com suits were filed in Washington, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Microsoft anti-piracy attorney, Sharon Cates, said that Microsoft was targetting the practice of hard-disk loading, which saves computer sellers money because they can install the same program at no additional cost on multiple PCs. Buyers do not get the DVD or serial number necessary to reinstall the software, nor do they get any manuals. She said Microsoft was more concerned about hard-disk loading than on the sale of unlawfully copied shrink-wrapped software which has replaced counterfeiting as the main problem.

Microsoft said that eight of those it is suing were repeat offenders. However, she said that more than 75% of the businesses Microsoft has sued for piracy over the years have become good Microsoft clients. However, one of the people sued, Vancouver's 1 Source Computer Solutions, said that it sells used systems and it just  cleans them up and resells them. They claim they didn't know that they had hot software onboard.

More here.