Court rules against Microsoft

A local court in Beijing has ruled that the Microsoft Corporation has infringed on a Chinese company's intellectual property rights by including certain fonts in several versions of Windows. It is the second IPR dispute between China and the US after a Chinese copyright organization accused Google of scanning books without permission. Shen Le has more.

Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's court found Microsoft had installed and used the fonts in eight of its operating systems without permission. These fonts are owned by Zhongyi Electronic Limited. The court ruled the US software giant should stop selling those operating systems in China.

However, Microsoft released a statement saying it disagreed with Monday's ruling.

The Chinese company hailed the court's decision.

Lan Dekangn chairman of Zhongyi Electronic Limited, said, "After two and a half years of this legal ordeal, our company has finally won. Chinese IPR owners will defend themselves from now on."

In 1995, Microsoft licensed Zhongyi's intellectual property for use in the Chinese version of Windows 95. But the agreement only applies to Windows 95. In 1998, Microsoft continued to use the intellectual property from Windows 98 to Windows XP without Zhongyi's permission.

In 2007, Zhongyi filed an IPR lawsuit against Microsoft. The legal process lasted for more than two years before the court decided on a ruling against Microsoft.