Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court recently made its first-instance judgment over Microsoft's allegation against Beijing Newsmy, a renowned Chinese supplier of portable digital devices, on using 42 sets of unauthorized Microsoft products including Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office, the first kind of lawsuit against end customers for using pirated software by Microsoft, ordered the defendant to stop infringement and indemnify 410,000 yuan in damages.

After finding Newsmy installing and using its unauthorized software in December 2009, Microsoft lodged a complaint to Beijing Executive Law Enforcement Department for Cultural Market. On January 19, 2010, the law enforcers organized a check on Newsmy, and found that Newsmy installed and used 42 sets of Microsoft software, including Windows XP professional Chinese version, Windows7 Ultimate version, Office2003 and Office2007 professional Chinese version. In July 2010, the same authority  imposed administrative sanctions and penalty of 26,000 yuan on Newsmy.

Learning that the Newsmy continued further infringement after the sanction was imposed, Microsoft then took the case to the court in January 2011. Microsoft tried to negotiate with the defendant, but failed to find common ground. After 10 months of hearing, the court made the above decision.

"If the user purchase one set of genuine software, it means he can only use on one computer, otherwise, he violates license agreement and thus infringe the copyright." says Tan Ruiqiong, a legal counsel from Microsoft.

(China IP News)