For most of the cases, Microsoft learned of the piracy from customers using the company's piracy hotline. Some of the computers also failed the company's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) online validation tool for legitimate Microsoft software.
"These legal actions are about protecting Microsoft's customers from falling victim to some dealers who operate a business model of peddling pirated and counterfeit software," Microsoft attorney Sharon Cates said in a statement. "Some companies previously involved in these lawsuits have discontinued their illegal business practices; others have not."
Six of the companies are from California, two in Texas, two in Washington, and others around the country in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.