Beijing's leading Intermediate People's Court has ruled today that Microsoft must immediately cease sales of the Chinese versions of Windows 98, 2000, 2003 and XP after it was found that the OSs include fonts created by a local Chinese company, violating licensing agreements.
The ruling specifically stated that Microsoft violated licensing agreements with Zhongyi Electronic, the company which had designed the Chinese character fonts.
Microsoft is prepared to appeal. "Microsoft respects intellectual property rights. We use third party IPs only when we have a legitimate right to do so," read a company press release.
Overall however, the decision will likely not affect Microsoft's bottom line in any way, given the high (80 percent-plus) piracy rates of the operating systems in China and the age of the operating systems in question.













