Comet, the slip-sliding high-street electronics store hit a sleeping policeman on its road to recovery this week after Microsoft issued proceedings against it for infringement of its intellectual property rights. It is alleged that Comet produced in excess of 94,000 counterfeit copies of Windows XP and Vista recovery disks for distribution with laptops and desktops sold by the company. Comet has publicly defended its position, stating that it acted in the very best interests of its customers in copying the disks following the decision to stop supplying recovery disks with each new Microsoft Operating System based computer.

Comet, which was recently sold off to French retail Company Kesa Electricals PLC for £2 and if rumour is to believed will be sold on again later this year to private equity fim OpCapita LLP, apparently took legal advice on this issue before publicly defending its actions. It is claimed by Microsoft that Comet produced the counterfeits at a factory in Hampshire before bundling them with new computers sold via its numerous UK retail stores.

Computer software if afforded copyright protection under UK law. Copyright is a form of intellectual property right alongside, but not restricted to patents, trademarks and design laws. Commercial entities generally prefer the monopolistic rights that patents afford however the use of patents is restricted in then UK offering no protection to computer software, contrasting the position in the US.

In essence there are five ways in which copyright in computer software can be infringed under UK law; copying, adaptation, modification, distribution and public communication. Here, There is clearly a case against Comet for both copying and distributing copyrighted material and it is difficult to see, at the moment, how Comet intends to mount a defence against this. There are several permitted acts including allowing permitted users to make necessary back-up copies although this exception is unlikely to find favour here.

As with most things litigious, it’s likely there won’t be a resulting to this issue for quite some time and time is something Comet is running short on