Microsoft Loses in China Software Piracy Suit

Microsoft lost a lawsuit against a Chinese firm it accused of pirating its software and was ordered to pay the $60 trial costs, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Microsoft sued Beijing Yadu Science & Technology Group after law enforcement officers found 37 sets of illegally copied software in the building where the company is based, Xinhua said. Engineers in the building also acknowledged that pirated Microsoft software was installed in about 50 of the Yadu Group’s computers, it said. But the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court rejected Microsoft’s claim, saying there was no proof that the engineers were employed by the Yadu Group, Xinhua said. Yadu argued that neither the computers installed with pirated software nor the engineers belonged to the group, Xinhua said. Instead, it said they belonged to the Beijing Yadu Science & Technology Co., a separate firm. Microsoft had been demanding a public apology from the Yadu Group and $180,700 in compensation, Xinhua said.