Microsoft Corp, Lotus Development Corp and Autodesk Inc have filed a lawsuit against five Peking companies alleging illegal copying, displaying and selling their software: the three maintain they have lost millions of dollars in profits from 10 incidents of copyright infringement, the China Daily reported; the legal proceedings follow a June raid on the five companies named as Gaoli Computer Co, Sanhua Electronics, Huili Computer Co, Huiqin Computer Shop and the Peking branch of Giant Group, one of China’s largest computer software retailers, when more than 300 pirated floppy disks and six hard disks were seized; the Washington-based Business Software Alliance, which plans to represent the companies says it will demand between $10,000 and $30,000 for each copyright breach and says total damages are likely to be far higher; the alliance estimates that over 90% of all software in China is pirated and the legal action follows one of the first major moves by China against its hoards of alleged software pirates; the newspaper said the Intellectual Property Rights Chamber under the Peking Intermediate People’s Court was investigating and was expected to hold a public hearing in September; but how will they feel when the Chinese court, as is its wont for a wide variety of economic infractions, duly sentences the perpetrators to death?
