Buying a counterfeit product on Ebay is exactly like buying a used laptop from someone on Craigslist, save for the buyer's perception of the seller. I don't see

Buying a counterfeit product on Ebay is exactly like buying a used laptop from someone on Craigslist, save for the buyer's perception of the seller. I don't see how the appearance of the counterfeit product, or the ignorance of the buyer, or the mainstream-ness of the seller is at all relevant here. To complete your laptop analogy, this "new" laptop from Best Buy turned out to be goods ripped off the assembly line at the Dell factory before the unit had its Windows OEM license assigned or paid for. The software is unlicensed and therefore not genuine. It is not for Microsoft to offer sympathy and a blind eye, they are well within their rights to identify counterfeit installations of Windows and disable them. The remedy is for Best Buy to offer the customer a full refund.