A Ningxia-based company has received a court order to pay CNY140,000 to three companies, including Founder Electronics, for using the latters' software without authorization.

The court has not released the name of the company in Ningxia, but it has revealed details of the case. In August 2004, staff from Beijing Founder Electronics Company, Founder Group and Beijing Red Mansion Computer Research Institute found that this Ningxia company was using their software at business sites without valid licenses.

The three plaintiffs then filed a lawsuit against this company for breaching their collective computer software copyrights.

However now that the court has ordered the company to pay CNY140,000, the Ningxia company has disappeared. Founder's lawyer says that his company will now try to find them.