A local court in Shanghai ruled on Thursday that Dazhong Insurance must pay Microsoft 2.17 million yuan ($317,900) as compensation for using pirated Microsoft software, NetEase.com reported.

It was the first time Microsoft had sued a large enterprise in China, and the amount of compensation was the largest in any intellectual property rights case filed by Microsoft in China.

Last year, Microsoft won an IPR suit against Shanghai DareGlobal Technologies and the latter paid 400,000 yuan as compensation. In another case, Microsoft and Haojia Electronic (Shenzhen) settled their IPR dispute through court mediation as Haojia agreed to pay 500,000 yuan.

Court evidence showed that Shanghai-based Dazhong installed and used at least 450 sets of nine pirated Microsoft programs. Microsoft demanded that the defendant to stop the infringement and pay 2.25 million yuan in compensation

(Source: China Daily)