Chinese Online Media Indicating Shift in Copyright Policy

A Chinese programmer named Hong Lei was arrested in August by PRC officials for publishing an "enhanced" and "free" version of Microsoft Windows XP. Report indicates that the version had an install based of over 10 million. Microsoft was behind the arrest of the programmer.

However, a recent article published on official IP protection web site of the Department of Commerce of China cited a decision made by U.S. federal judges Martin J. Jenkins and Laporte, and concluded that Hong Lei would not be liable for copyright infringement under the NETBULA, LLC v. SYMANTEC CORPORATION, 516 F. Supp.2d 1137, 1152 (N.D.Cal. 2007) precedent and similar precedents in the Netbula v. Sun Microsystems case (C06-07391-JW). The article noted the U.S. federal common law requires U.S. courts to follow the precedents. Since Microsoft would not be protected back in its home country, it would be ridiculous for Microsoft to request such protection in China.

Many in China expect the "Tomato Garden" case to be overturned.