CBS Accused Of Offering Pirated, Chinese Censorship Software
08 Oktober 2009 - 5:59PM
Dow Jones News
Solid Oak Software Inc. has sued CBS Corp.'s (CBS) Internet unit
for copyright infringement, alleging that its ZDNet China Web site
helped firms backed by the Chinese government distribute a pirated
software program aimed a censoring web content.
In a complaint filed Oct. 5 in a Los Angeles federal court, the
Santa Barbara, Calif.-based software maker claims that CBS
Interactive Inc. participated willingly in an effort by the Chinese
government to give away tens of millions of versions of
CyberSitter, a web content filtering program made by Solid Oak that
blocks violent and pornographic web content.
Solid Oak wants at least $1.2 million in damages from CBS, which
it says cooperated with Beijing by making a program called Green
Dam available on its Web site for free download in order to promote
the Web site and generate Web traffic and advertising revenue.
Green Dam was developed by two Chinese government-backed
companies, Zhengzhou Jinhui Computer System Engineering Ltd. and
Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy Ltd., according
to the complaint. Independent researchers at the University of
Michigan confirmed in June that Green Dam copied verbatim almost
3,000 lines of code from Solid Oak's 14-year-old program, which has
more than 2.4 million active users, the complaint stated.
"We've reviewed the complaint and believe the allegations
against CBS are without merit," CBS said in a statement. "As is
evident from the complaint, this is a dispute between CyberSitter,
the two Chinese companies that allegedly copied their filtering
technology, as well as the Chinese government that backed these
companies and the distribution of the allegedly infringing
material."
Gregory Fayer, an attorney with Gipson Hoffman & Pancione
who is representing Solid Oak, said the case has broad implications
for software makers trying to protect themselves against
large-scale international infringement of their intellectual
property. He said Solid Oak is considering legal action against
other parties involved in the case, but he rejected CBS' assertion
that it's not liable.
"If you offer an illegal product for download on a web site,
that's against the law," Fayer said.
The Chinese government earlier this year decreed that all PCs
sold in China would be required to have Green Dam installed by July
1, claiming it was necessary to protect young people from unsavory
Internet content, like pornographic and violent material. Human
rights groups say the move is part of an effort to censor political
and religious discourse on the web in China.
Solid Oak sent a cease and desist letter to CBS about the Green
Dam download on Aug. 18, and CBS removed the download from its web
site on Sept. 7, according to the complaint. It says CBS was aware
that Green Dam was illegal since early June, at the latest, when
the alleged infringement of its CyberSitter program was widely
reported in the media.
-Nat Worden, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2472;
nat.worden@dowjones.com