As part of its commitment to help protect consumers and resellers from counterfeit software and other forms of software piracy, Microsoft Corp. today announced its new Genuine Software Initiative. The Genuine Software Initiative (GSI) will focus the company’s many activities and investments directed at combating software counterfeiting and other forms of software piracy into a single coordinated effort. The initiative will focus increasing investments across three strategic areas: education, engineering and enforcement.

Piracy and counterfeit products are an important issue across the entire technology industry. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimates that 35 percent of all software used worldwide is counterfeit or otherwise illegal. The recent IDC Economic Impact Study found that if the global software piracy rate was lowered 10 percentage points over the next four years, this change would contribute 2.4 million new jobs and $400 billion in economic growth to the global economy.

Educational efforts are crucial to helping protect consumers and reducing software piracy. The best way to help protect consumers is to raise awareness of the issue and equip them to spot counterfeit software and help them understand what they should do about it.