Chinese Court Convicts 11 in Microsoft Piracy Case, New York Times, 1/1/09

Via New York Times: Chinese Court Convicts 11 in Microsoft Piracy Case:

"A court in southern China convicted 11 people on Wednesday of violating national copyright laws and participating in a sophisticated counterfeiting ring that for years manufactured and distributed pirated Microsoft software throughout the world...

Some legal specialists consider the case to be a landmark because it involved a joint antipiracy effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. Law enforcement officials said it was also notable because the group operated like a multinational corporation, producing and distributing high-quality counterfeit software that was created and packaged almost identically to the real products, despite Microsoft’s antipiracy measures...

American politicians and corporate executives have been pressing China for years to crack down on piracy and intellectual property rights abuses that included music, film and expensive software products. Software piracy is rampant in China, where about 80 percent of computers are believed to use counterfeit software, according to the Business Software Alliance."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/business/worldbusiness/01soft.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=piracy%20china&st=cse