Microsoft China has initiated legal proceedings against Chinese household appliance retailer Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings and consumer electronics market Buynow Co for selling computers with counterfeit Windows and Office software, according to a Microsoft statement Monday.

The company said in its statement that it has got evidence showing the Shanghai branch of Gome and two computer shops in Beijing Buynow mall sold computers installed with counterfeit Microsoft software which is a violation of Microsoft's copyrights.

"Gome and Buynow's practices are unfair to retailers selling authorized software, and also bring security risks for customers," Yu Weidong, Microsoft China's senior director of IPR issues, said in the statement.

Microsoft asked Gome and Buynow to stop copyright violation and to pay compensation, but did not disclose the specific details.

In November last year, Shenzhen-based Oyo Netwtu ork Technology Co was fined 800,000 yuan (126,400 U.S. dollars) by the authorities for distributing counterfeit Microsoft software, Microsoft China said.

Buynow said in a statement sent to the Global Times Monday that they would enforce contracts with shop owners and punish sellers who violated regulations.

A Gome spokeswoman Monday declined to comment on the issue.

"It's a copyright violation to sell computers installed with pirated software," Liu Jiahui, a lawyer at Beijing-based Derun Law Firm, told the Global Times Monday.

Liu said the law of intellectual property rights protection should be strictly enforced and violators should be severely punished to reduce the cases of copyright infringement.

Chinese courts handled 3,017 cases related to intellectual property rights protection last year, an increase of 65.5 percent year-on-year, the People's Daily reported Sunday, citing an official from the Intellectual Property Protection in China.

Liu noted it is still hard to completely stop copyright violations, especially in China. Consumers should also be encouraged to buy original versions of movies and software.

"The supervision system in China is not strict. As there is a big gap in the prices of original and counterfeit products with little difference in quality, consumers prefer to buy counterfeit products," Wang Ningyuan, an IT industry analyst at the CIC Industry Research Center, told the Global Times Monday.

Wang noted the companies also can consider reducing the production cost in order to lower sales price to attract more consumers.

Gome is a major household appliances retailer in China and Buynow is one of the largest consumer electronics malls in the country by scale.

(Source: Xinhua)