Microsoft declares amnesty on pirate software

The company's new Product ID team will analyse any Microsoft products that customers, resellers or retailers send in. Microsoft promises to respond in two working days, and if the software is counterfeit, the company will replace one product free of charge.

Julia Phillpot, anti-piracy manager at Microsoft, said the company has run a similar scheme in Germany for nearly a year and has found that 90 per cent of the software sent in is illegal.

Phillpot added: "This service will reassure customers that what they have is legal software. The risks to business can be very high if they're found with counterfeit products."

To take advantage of the replacement offer, customers will need to comply with some rules: the software must have been purchased in the last six months and must be accompanied by a witness statement and proof of purchase.

You can read the fine print at http://www.microsoft.com/uk/privacy/productid.