Chinese Consumer Group Probes Microsoft Piracy Plan, Post Says

By Aaron Pan

Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The China Consumers' Association is investigating whether Microsoft Corp.'s anti-piracy software is breaching consumers' rights, the South China Morning Post reported, citing the Beijing News.

The mainland's biggest consumer rights organization asked more than 30 lawyers, professors and industry experts to discuss whether Microsoft's software infringes China's personal privacy and antitrust laws, the newspaper said.

Last month, Microsoft started a new anti-piracy effort in mainland China to test the legitimacy of users' software, the Post said. Computers failing the company's tests would be left with a black screen or sent a warning.

Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, will adopt a more flexible pricing strategy in China to make legitimate software more affordable, the newspaper added, citing Lin Congwu, a Microsoft China marketing manager.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Pan in Hong Kong at Apan8@bloomberg.net