LAW firm Eversheds is advising businesses to check their software after technology firm Microsoft identified Middlesbrough as a software piracy hotspot.

Eversheds intellectual property expert Rupert Bent said that as counterfeiters became more sophisticated, so more businesses are being caught out by pirated software they believed to be genuine.

He said: "My advice to companies is to take stock of what they have got and check for certification and authenticity. Usually, the most surefire way of telling whether you are being sold a pirated copy is an unusually low price tag.

"In my experience, most pirated software is purchased from less traditional outlets, such as online auction sites," he said.

"Once identified, suspects could be subject to a search and seize order, whereby the software company can enter the business premises to search for counterfeited goods."