The order Monday said Microsoft exceeded its rights under licensing agreements with Zhongyi Electronic Ltd., a Beijing company that developed Chinese character fonts used in the software.<\/p>\n
Microsoft must stop selling versions of Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 with Zhongyi’s fonts, the Beijing People’s No. 1 Intermediate Court said in its ruling, a copy of which was released by Zhongyi.<\/p>\n
Microsoft said it would appeal.<\/p>\n
“Microsoft respects intellectual property rights. We use third party IPs only when we have a legitimate right to do so,” the company said in a statement. “We believe our license agreements with the plaintiff cover our use of the fonts.”<\/p>\n
Microsoft did not respond to a question about what proportion of its products sold in China use Zhongyi fonts or how many copies might be affected.<\/p>\n
Zhongyi said its agreement with Microsoft allowed the Seattle-based software producer to use its fonts only in Windows 95 and they were added to later products without permission.<\/p>\n
China is a leading source of pirated copies of software, movies and other goods and its government has long been accused of failing to do enough to stop the thriving underground industry.<\/p>\n
China’s small but ambitious technology companies say they are among the biggest victims of piracy and are turning to the courts to help defend their intellectual property.<\/p>\n
In December, a group of 11 people who were convicted of selling unlicensed copies of Microsoft software were sentenced by a Chinese court to up to 6 1\/2 years in prison.<\/p>\n