Because retailers could not afford to stop doing business with Nintendo, unlicensed companies were at a disadvantage.

The association estimates the number of unlicensed companies at half the number of licensed ones.

Consumers may sometimes avoid falling prey to unlicensed companies by consulting their state's policies and other information regarding home warranty and similar services.

Last year New York State prohibited unlicensed companies from hiring security guards.

Most unlicensed companies created circuits that used a voltage spike to knock the authentication unit offline.

Nobel tightly controlled the patents, and unlicensed duplicating companies were quickly shut down.

Often, officials say, the agents do not tell their customers that the automobile, truck or health insurance policies they are buying come from an unlicensed company.

Among the two-thirds who responded, the department found that 51 unlicensed companies had $64 million in estimated losses from the riots.

"What makes this claim different is the involvement of an unlicensed, out-of-state company called Pic-a-State."

The Assemblyman discovered that in the rare instances when the state took action against unlicensed companies, it was a token effort.