Founder Electronics, an electronics company in Beijing, has sued Blizzard, claiming that they allegedly used five copyrighted fonts in World of Warcraft. Founder claims the loss cost them 1 billion yuan, and wants 100 million yuan for the alleged infringement.

Official Press Release:

Chinese company sues Blizzard for using fonts

2007-8-16

BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua).  Chinese IT company Founder Electronics Co., Ltd. is suing California-based Blizzard Entertainment for 100 million yuan, claiming lost earnings from the unauthorized use of its fonts.

A statement from Founder Electronics said five fonts from its database were used without authorization in the popular on-line fantasy game World of Warcraft (WoW), resulting in losses of one billion yuan.

Founder Electronics has launched the lawsuit against Blizzard Entertainment, a unit of French media and telecoms company Vivendi, at the Beijing Municipal Higher Peoples Court.

Founder Electronics is the largest provider of Chinese fonts in China, the statement said.

The font database was part of the companys E-Publishing system, which was used by 90 percent of the international Chinese newspaper industry, the statement said.

Observers said the damages sought by the Chinese company were among the largest ever for an intellectual property suit in China.

Shanghai-based IT company The9, which runs WoW in China, refused to comment on the suit on Tuesday evening.

The monster-killing game, first launched in 2004, is one of the most popular on-line role-playing games involving multiple players. It was officially launched in China in June 2005.

WoW has 8.5 million players worldwide, including more than 3.5 million in China.

Founder Electronics is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Founder Group .Founder Group has subsidiaries listed on the stock exchanges of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Malaysia respectively, and over 20 wholly-funded companies and joint-ventures both in China and foreign countries, With over 20,000 employees.

Chinas courts have seen a nearly 50-percent annual increase in the number of cases concerning intellectual property rights (IPR) violations involving foreign firms since the country joined the World Trade Organization.

From 2002 to 2006, Chinas courts settled 931 civil cases of IPR violation at first instance trials with an annual increase of 48.3 percent. In 2006, Chinas courts settled 353 civil cases of IPR violation at first instance trials, up 52.16 percent on the previous year, according the Supreme Peoples Court.

The Copyright Protection Center of China received 23,095 applications for registration of computer software for copyright protection last year, a record high that demonstrated the growing awareness of copyright protection among Chinese, especially those working for the IT industry. (One U.S. dollar equals 7.5845 yuan)
 

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