Founder Group starts war against piracy
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-04-20 23:43

The Beijing-based Founder Group, China's leading provider of advanced information and software products, has kicked off a nationwide war against piracy and illegal use of its products.

Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court Tuesday held hearings on two cases brought by Beijing Founder Electronics Co Ltd, a Founder subsidiary, against two local companies, claiming they had illegally used its software product Founder PSPNT RIP 2.1 Version.

The two companies are the Shanghai Haoshun Computer Image Design Company and the Shanghai Aohua Publishing Company.

In each case, Founder demands compensation of 100,000 yuan (US$12,000), claimed as the price for the product, and other fees totalling 9,500 yuan (US$1,148).

PSPNT is the abbreviation for PostScript Processor New Technology. RIP stands for Raster Image Processing System, which constitutes the core of publishing software.

RIP systems change the information that appears on a computer screen into data for output.

"We found on November 14 last year that at the Shanghai Haoshun Computer Image Design Company, its computer connecting with an image setter had the Founder software installed," said Li Fengming, an attorney for plaintiff.

However, the company denied it had ever used the product. No complete set of the software was found in the computer.

"Inspectors from the Shanghai Copyright Bureau raided our company, and we could not delete the software in advance," said Xia Jinshang, a lawyer for the company.

The plaintiff said it had found some records of the software.

"Also, we got a log number on the computer, which is the same as those we found on pirated products," Li said.

According to the plaintiff, users who purchase their product get a log number.

"Yet the number on Haoshun's computer did not have Founder's approval," he said.

Founder also found the Shanghai Aohua Publishing Company used the pirated product in November last year.

Founder started the investigation last October in many cities across the country.

The move to resort to the law and the courts to combat piracy was seen as a trailblazer.

Founder sued five companies in Beijing in March, and three in Shanghai.

"The third case is now in Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court," Li said.

At this Shanghai court, the plaintiff cited a verdict by a court in Northeast China's Jilin Province on a similar case. The court in Jilin supported Founder's request for compensation of 100,000 yuan (US$12,000).

Founder, a pioneer in Chinese character laser photo typesetting system, was developed by Professor Wang Xuan and his fellow researcher. It was believed to have achieved a milestone in China's information and technology progress.

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