First things first: If you want to buy a legal copy of Windows or Microsoft Office in China, expect to pay almost as much as you would for a new computer – in other words, not cheap. And that’s one reason people suspected that Redmond’s finest might be in the sights once China enacts its first anti-monopoly law (only 13 years in the making) in August.
Indeed, Chinese state media had reported that was the case last week. However, in a remarkable case of about face, or one hand not talking to the other, state officials have now come out and said that this is not the case, and no investigation of Microsoft is planned, according to Bloomberg. In fact, they were told by Yin Xintian, a spokesman and legal director at the State Intellectual Property Office in Beijing:
“We are not conducting an anti-monopoly investigation against Microsoft and have no plans to do so,” he said, and added, “We did commission a study into the frequency of China’s software piracy and published the results on May 28.”
Microsoft has said it’s not aware of any Chinese investigation.
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