DotCom Versus DotCom for Alleged Piracy

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 26, 2002

DotCom Versus DotCom for Alleged Piracy

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Both Internet surfers and newspaper readers have been following the war that has broken out between sina.com and sohu.com, two of China's leading websites, assina.com announced on Thursday that it is taking sohu.com to courtfor alleged piracy.

Sina appealed to the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court Thursday, saying that sohu had pirated many of its on-line resources over a long period of time, neglecting both oral and written warnings from sina.

Sina alleged that on January 16 alone, more than 30 of over 50 icons prepared by sina's short message channel were pirated. Sina also believes that sohu pirated part of its commercial and financial information without any further editing.

Sohu immediately rejected sina's charges, saying that the alleged piracy and warnings were groundless. Sohu accused sina forpirating sohu's short message service, adding that it has collected some notarized evidence and reserves the right to take legal action.

This is not the first dispute between two DotComs. Chinabyte.com has sued a website for pirating its contents, and the case wassettled with a compromise under the court's mediation.

Netizens see the fight as part of the "growing pains" which areunavoidable amid such fierce competition, and that competition is good for the healthy growth of the new industry as long as all competitors respect the rules of fair play.

On-line intellectual property right (IPR) protection has been in the news throughout the world over the past decade as the Internet is getting more popular.

Netizens hope that the dispute between sina and sohu will attract the public's attention and help to find a solution.

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