TULA, November 9 - RAPSI. The Tula Sovetsky District Court has upheld Microsoft's lawsuit to recover 8 million rubles ($253,720) from two businessmen who inflicted damages on the company by selling counterfeit software, Olga Dyachuk, the court's press secretary, told RIA Novosti on Friday.

In August, a Tula court sentenced the businessmen to three years in prison for trading pirated films and programs, which resulted in damages totaling 45 million rubles ($1.42 million). The businessmen sold counterfeit products in 13 sales outlets, thus violating the copyrights of 14 companies.

Dyachuk said Microsoft, one of the affected companies, filed the lawsuit with the court to recover losses from the businessmen.

The plaintiff sought to recover 8 million rubles ($253,720) from the defendants, or double the amount of the damages inflicted by the businessmen.

The ruling has not come into effect, and can still be appealed.

Microsoft is the world's leading software manufacturer. Its market value was estimated at $224.9 billion as of mid-November.