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Court rules Microsoft infringed Zhongyi's intellectual property

Warwick Ashford
Tuesday 17 November 2009 12:09

A Chinese court has ruled that Microsoft infringed a Chinese company'sintellectual property rightsby including certain fonts in its operating systems.

The Beijing court found that Microsoft had exceeded the scope of a previous agreement to use and sell fonts owned by Zhongyi Electronic, according to US reports.

Microsoft used the fonts in eight of its operating systems without permission from Zhongyi, the court said, ordering Microsoft to stop producing and selling those operating systems in China.

But the court rejected Zhongyi's claim that Microsoft's use of Zhengma software also violated the Chinese company's intellectual property rights. The software enables computer users to type Chinese characters using Western keyboards.

The decision came during US president Barack Obama's visit to China, where he has championed internet freedom and human rights.

The US has also been pressing China for tougher enforcement of intellectual property law.