Accusing firm of piracy on eBay

Novell announced that it had filed a lawsuit against a Texas computer firm, accusing the company of offering pirated versions of NetWare software on the auction site eBay.The lawsuit accuses MTZ Computers of Copperas Cove, Texas and its owner, of copyright and trademark infringement. Novell said it discovered the offer through routine monitoring of auction sites. Investigators made a test purchase and received a counterfeit diskette containing the software, Novell said. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. "Novell regularly monitors online auction sites in an effort to discourage exactly this type of practice," said D. Bradford, senior vice president and general counsel for Novell, in a statement. Novell said it investigated over 1,300 cases worldwide in fiscal 1998. More than $11 billion each year is lost to software piracy, according to the Business Software Alliance and the Software Publisher_s Association.