Microsoft Wins Piracy Case In China

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Microsoft Wins Piracy Case In China [ft.com]

Microsoft has won one of its biggest victories to date in its fight against piracy in China as a Shanghai court sentenced a regional insurer to pay the US software company Rmb2.17m ($318,000) in damages.

The Shanghai Pudong New Area district court found Dazhong Insurance, a Shanghai-based insurer backed by a number of Chinese state-owned and listed companies, guilty of infringing Microsoft’s intellectual property by using illegal copies of its software.

“This is the first case in which Microsoft has taken a large Chinese company to court over copyright infringement of its software,” Microsoft said. “It is also the case in which Microsoft has been awarded the largest sum in damages in China so far.”

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I'm sure MS is quite happy with this case. It's a step in the right direction to be sure. If China's courts start actually prosecuting cases like this then it can only benefit them.

I can't help but wonder what will happen in China if the trend of software piracy is reversed. Will they stick with more expensive products like Microsoft, or will we see a rush to open source?