Microsoft has announced the launch of a new campaign aimed at stemming the flow of pirated software.

The company's 'global anti-piracy day' on 21 October marks the beginning of a new worldwide effort to root out and apprehend vendors that sell pirated copies of its products.

The campaign will include action in 49 countries, in which Microsoft will work with the public and local law enforcement groups to help identify and apprehend groups dealing in stolen software.

Microsoft is also planning a new series of legal actions against suspected software pirates.

Among the events planned for the kickoff are educational programmes in Turkey, Brazil and Italy.

"Software piracy and counterfeiting is a sophisticated global trade with a damaging impact on consumers, businesses and economies," said David Finn, Microsoft's associate general counsel for worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting.

"Microsoft is committed to working with others around the world to stay a step ahead of this illegal industry.

"Together, we are working to identify international connection points between software pirates and counterfeiters, to help stop them in their tracks and protect consumers and legitimate businesses from this illegal trade."

The anti-piracy day will be anything but a cause for celebration for a group of retailers in the US. Microsoft is filing 20 separate lawsuits in federal courts against resellers suspected of selling PCs preloaded with pirated copies of Windows and Office.