According to China's Legal Daily, after four years' of court hearings, the Beijing Municipal Superior People's Court has issued a judgment in China's first online sales infringement case.

The two defendants, Taiwan Jingpin Technology Company and Zhongshan Mingren Computer Development Company, are ordered to pay Hanwang Technology Company CNY300,000 and CNY2.8 million, respectively, as compensation.

In May 2000, Taiwan Jingpin Technology Company began to manufacture and sell online the "WinCE Handwriting Chinese Characters Identification Core V1.0" software, which was developed by Hanwang Technology.

In the same year, Zhongshan Mingren installed the pirated software, provided by Taiwan Jingpin Technology Company, in Zhongshan Mingren PC products.

The court believed that the two defendant's software, though having different branding and names from Hanwang's products, both originated from Hanwang's software code.

Local media report that Hanwang Technology is not content with the low compensation in this judgment, and the company is now preparing for another appeal.