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Last week, Microsoft bought Giant Software for an undisclosed sum and would be releasing a beta anti-spyware product in the new year for users of Windows 2000 and above.

Now Sunbelt is claiming co-ownership of the code that Microsoft thought it had bought outright. It also has it has an agreement for Giant to supply

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the spyware signatures - unique identifiers of each bit of code - which the Giant scanner uses to search a hard disk for illegitimate programs.

For Sunbelt, it looks like Christmas has come early as it believes it now has an agreement to obtain spyware signatures supplied by the resources of the biggest software company in the world. Microsoft agrees although it suggests that Sunbelt should not get overexcited.

It says that whilst Sunbelt had some co-ownership of earlier versions of the Giant solution, Microsoft maintains that any future products based on Giant technology would be owned solely by Microsoft.

The company does concede that it is obliged to provide Sunbelt with signatures. In a statement Microsoft said, 'Because of a legal agreement between Sunbelt Software Distribution and Giant that preceded the Microsoft acquisition, Microsoft will provide spyware signature updates to Sunbelt through July 2007.'