China hit with $2.2 billion software piracy lawsuit

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The Chinese government is being sued for $2.2 billion (£1.4 billion) for allegedly copying a computer program designed by an American firm.

By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 11:31AM GMT 07 Jan 2010

A Californian company claims that China stole its work and used it to create Green Dam, a controversial censorship program that China initially wanted to install on every new computer in the country.

China claimed that Green Dam would help protect children from pornographic and violent content on the internet, but its critics claimed that the program also blocked politically sensitive information.

After a public outcry, a plan to force computer manufacturers to put Green Dam on all computers sold in China was dropped. However, discs containing the program were shipped with computers and Green Dam was installed widely across China's schools. As of last June, 56.5 million copies of Green Dam had been distributed across the mainland.

Cybersitter claims that more than 3,000 lines of its software code were lifted by the Chinese, a finding that was initially reported by independent researchers at the University of Michigan, who also said that Green Dam left users exposed to viruses.

However, Cybersitter's claim hinges on whether American copyright law can be applied to a product almost wholly distributed in China. The lawsuit also accuses the computer manufacturers Lenovo, Haier, Sony, Toshiba, Acer, Asustek and BenQ, of failing to respond to cease-and-desist letters asking them to stop distributing Green Dam.

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not comment on the suit.

Link : China hit with $2.2 billion software piracy lawsuit - Telegraph