Lenovo, Acer, Sony Targetted in Green Dam Suit

By Jane McEntegart
published

Santa Barbara-based Solid Oak is said to be targeting Lenovo, Sony and Acer in its legal proceedings against China's Green Dam software.

Soon after China announced its Green Dam plans (that is, to ship every computer after July 1 with the mandatory filtering software), an American company came forward and claimed that parts of its filtering software CyberSitting, which is aimed at parental use, are being used in the Green Dam software. At the time Solid Oak said it was unsure of how it was going to proceed but the company did mention that seeking a court injunction to stop manufacturers shipping the software was a definite possibility.

Reports now claim that initially, the company's court case will be targeting Sony, Acer and Lenovo because while the project has been delayed, the aforementioned manufacturers have started shipping computers with the software anyway.

Last week China announced a delay in the roll out of Green Dam, stating that manufacturers would not be ready for the July 1 deadline and needed more time. Later in the week, China said that yes, it would go ahead with Green Dam and that no, the Solid Oak issue was not the reason for the delay. "What will happen is that some PC manufacturers will have it included with their PC packages sooner than the others," an MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) official said. "But there is no definite deadline at the moment."

A Solid Oak spokeswoman told IDG that the company might also take action against other PC makers that have started shipping the software.

Jane McEntegart
17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • doc70
    well, maybe they'll learn that singing along a communist song just for the love of sales doesn't mean they're immune from any legal consequences... after all, they can't say they didn't know about the copyright issue, all the Internet was full of news about it. Hope they will have to pay big royalties for putting that software on their systems.
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    here come the patent hors
    Reply
  • Greg_77
    I thought Lenovo didn't accept the Green Dam software? I thought it was Toshiba? I could be wrong, after all, Lenovo is a Chinese company.
    Reply
  • curnel_D
    captaincharismahere come the patent horsYou're an idiot. At least try and be a little bit educated about what you're talking about.

    A research team at a close university found code directly ripped from Solid Oak (And I literally mean directly, since it was also noticed that the internal code newsletter commented sections from Solid Oak were also left in) and notified the company about it. China doesnt even take notice, so the only way for them to take back their stolen property is to battle the PC manufacturers that decide to use the software despite a clear knowledge that the software was built using stolen IP.
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    the only idot on here is someone like you who try's to look like they know what there talking about. go surf wikipedia some more why don't ya
    Reply
  • Regected
    Arguing on the internet is like competing in the Special Olympics. Even if you win you are still retarded.


    This is not a case of patent trolling. This is an active and marketed product being blatantly copied by a foreign power. A company has little to no chance standing up to a government, but they can stop other companies from furthering the infringement.
    Reply
  • koss64
    Regected has a point.Solid Oak cant hope to sue the Chineese government and win.They could be doing this to try recoup thier losses or and this is a big OR they want to give the chineese governtment something to think about.But thats not likely as they have proven to be unmoving in most things,kind of like someone going the wrong way but despite all evidence that it is thwe wrong way they arent changing course one degree.
    Reply
  • cregan89
    This sucks for the manufacturers. It's illegal in China to sell a computer without the software. But the software itself is illegal. Your damned if you do, damned if you don't!
    Reply
  • curnel_D
    cregan89This sucks for the manufacturers. It's illegal in China to sell a computer without the software. But the software itself is illegal. Your damned if you do, damned if you don't!That's the cost of doing buisness in China. If manufacturers really wanted to stand up and do something about it, they could just give China a flat NO.
    Reply
  • jerreece
    I guess China will have to start making their own computers. :) Hopefully this legal suit will cause the major manufacturers to stop installing the software, and ultimately won't be able to ship PCs there.

    The Chinese government will just have to deal with living in the dark ages. This is what happens with governments that are fundamentally corrupt in the first place. No real surprise that the Chinese government has knowingly stolen intellectual property.
    Reply