A Beijing Science and technology company was sued by Microsoft China Co., Ltd. for infringing software copyright. At the end of last year, the Wuhan court made a first instance judgment to compensate more than 2.47 million yuan.
In October 2011, Microsoft sued a Beijing Technology Co., Ltd. for infringing the copyright of Microsoft office series computer software. According to the complaint, Beijing company, without authorization, used different versions of Microsoft office software with Microsoft copyright on the relevant computers in its two main business locations in Wuhan and Beijing, demanding a compensation of more than 2.98 million yuan.
During the trial, the Court went to the two offices of the defendant's company and checked 10 computers. It was found that 9 laptops were installed with different versions of Microsoft office software. The defendant Beijing company argued that the nine computers sampled were all owned by the employees themselves, which was beyond the control of the company.
The Wuhan intermediate people's court held that the office software developed by Microsoft was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. According to China's copyright law and regulations on the protection of computer software, both China and the United States are members of the Berne Convention for the protection of literary and artistic works, which should be protected by international treaties. The existing evidence shows that the defendant company's official website provides the download of word and EXCEL documents, and the company's "Employee Handbook" requires the use of 'Outlook' tool software to send and receive e-mail. These document modes are unique to office software.
The nine computers of the employees were also installed with Microsoft software, and the company and its employees used office software respectively. The defendant company actually became a commercial user of the computer software involved in the case based on the employee's use behavior in order to complete the work task, and should bear the tort liability.
In December last year, the first instance of Wuhan intermediate people's court ruled that a Beijing Science and Technology Co., Ltd. had infringed on the copy right of Microsoft's related software and should compensate Microsoft for more than 2.47 million yuan.
After the sentencing, the defendant company appealed, reached a settlement with Microsoft, and withdrew the appeal last month.