Microsoft said that it is taking action against groups that sold copies of Windows and Office discounted for academic use to regular users.

The Redmond, Wash., software maker has filed nine lawsuits and sent more than 50 letters threatening such action, it said in a statement. The suits were filed in the United States, but they target groups that operate internationally, posing as academic resellers in Jordan and elsewhere in that region and then reselling discounted Microsoft products in the U.S.

"These companies reaped millions of dollars in illegal profits by allegedly selling the software to Internet retailers in the United States rather than supplying it to the students," Microsoft said in the statement.