Microsoft banned from selling Windows OS in China

A local court in China has ordered Microsoft to stop selling some versions of its Microsoft Windows operating system in China, citing licensing agreement violations. According to the claims in court, the Windows operating system has fonts designed by a local Chinese company.

Microsoft, the software giant based in Washington, US, has been working hard to get a bigger market share in the booming Chinese market. The latest court ruling comes as a blow to the company, which is trying to combat the rampant software privacy issue in China.

The ruling, which was issued by the Beijing’s No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court on November 16, 2009, said that Microsoft violated licensing agreements between the company and Zhongyi Electronic, a Chinese technology company. The Chinese company develops Chinese character fonts.

Though it is still not clear when the ruling will come into effect or the number of copies affected by the ruling, Microsoft will have to stop selling its  Windows 98, 2000, 2003 and Windows XP operating systems.

Microsoft said the company will appeal the ruling issued by the Chinese court. “Microsoft respects intellectual property rights. We use third party IPs only when we have a legitimate right to do so.”

According to the version by the Chinese company, Zhongyi Electronic, it only authorised Microsoft to use its Chinese character fonts in WIndows 95, but accuses Microsoft of using it in the subsequent versions of the world’s most popular operating system.

It is believed that the win of a rather small Chinese technology company against the world’s largest software company will open the way for many such lawsuits. It also shows that China is slowly waking up to protect its intellectual property rights.

Microsoft recently launched its latest OS – Windows 7 – across the world.