In what could be seen as a test case for U.S. companies, a small California-based software firm has filed a $2.2 billion copyright infringment suit against the People’s Republic of China, two Chinese software makers and seven major computer manufacturers.
The plaintiff in this groundbreaking case is Solid Oak Software, a family-owned firm in Santa Barbara. They make, among other things, software called CYBERsitter, which prevents children from viewing pornographic or violent content on the internet. Solid Oak claims that Chinese software makers and computer manufacturers stole 3,000 lines of code from their CYBERsitter program to create Green Dam Youth Escort software, which works similar to CYBERsitter in that it prevents users from viewing certain web pages. After Green Dam was created, the Chinese government mandated that all manufacturers bundle the software into any computer sold in China after July 1, 2009. This was the government’s way of restricting the public, young and old, from viewing various political and religious web sites.
The suit names the following defendants:
- Sony
- Toshiba
- Lenovo Group
- Acer
- ASUSTeK Computer
- BenQ Corp.
- Haier Group
- Zhengzhou Jinhui Computer System Engineering
- Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy
- The People’s Republic of China
Though the mandate involving Green Dam software’s installation on all new computers was lifted after the Obama administration warned China that the requirement could violate free-trade agreements, 56.5 million copies had been distributed by June 2009 alone. And with a $39.95 price on each CYBERsitter product, it seems that whether they win or lose the case, Solid Oak is losing out on profits. But we should also remember that win or lose, this case has the potential to pave the way for future copyright infringement cases of this nature.