Microsoft Anti-Piracy Move Irks Chinese Official

BEIJING (Reuters)- A top Chinese copyright official chided Microsoft for launching ananti-piracy tool that nags users of counterfeit software with a blackcomputer screen and said the company’s prices were too high.

The U.S. software giant launched "Windows Genuine Advantage" inChina last week, a program that turns the background of the Windowsoperating system’s desktop black if the software fails a validationtest.

The move prompted lawsuit threats and howls of indignation in China,where the vast majority of computer users are believed to be usingpirated versions, unwittingly or not.

National Copyright Administration (NCA) Vice-Director Yan Xiaohongsaid his agency supported "the rights-safeguarding move taken byinstitutions including Microsoft," Xinhua news agency quoted him assaying in a report late on Monday.

But companies should "pay attention to the methods," Yan said."Whether the ‘black-out’ method should be adopted is open to question.Measures for safeguarding rights also need to be appropriate," Yan said.

Microsoft has defended the program as a measure to protect itsintellectual property and help customers determine that they have legalsoftware.

Methods to subvert the program were circulated on Chinese blogs and Internet chat-rooms within days of its launch.

Dong Zhengwei, a Beijing lawyer, said Microsoft was abusing itsmarket power and had filed a complaint to China’s trade watchdog, theState Administration for Industry and Commerce, the China Daily said inseparate report.

"Microsoft should be fined $1 billion," the paper quoted the lawyer as saying.

Yan said Microsoft’s price policies needed to "fit the Chinese situation."

"The company adopted unified prices in the past without consideringthe income gap between developed and developing countries, so we needto kindly remind them that Chinese customers’ affordability should beconsidered."

Microsoft’s China office denied users were being forced to use theanti-piracy program and pointed to recent sales promotions cuttingprices of its software in China.

"We appreciate the NCA’s understanding and support on efforts madeby right holders including Microsoft to protect IPR," it said in astatement on Tuesday.

"Building a market environment that respects intellectual propertyrights is critical to the development of the entire software industryand of knowledge economy in China."

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie)