Google, the world's largest search engine, has run into an IPR dispute with rival Sohu.com, a Chinese Internet brand listed on the NASDAQ exchange.

Sohu has accused Google of stealing a dictionary of Chinese words and names from its Sogou Pinyin Input Method Editor (IME), for use in the Google Pinyin IME launched in early April.

"It's obvious that Google has stolen our IME ideas," said Sohu's CEO Zhang Chaoyang. He added that his firm had applied for four patents before Sogou Pinyin IME was released last June and the company now has more than 10 patents concerning IME technology.

In recent years Chinese hi-tech companies have faced a series of charges over IPR infringements from foreign competitors, so Sohu's accusation has turned the tables.

Responding to Sohu's accusation, Google apologized to Sohu immediately for using the firm's technology in a program that helps users to input Chinese characters on a computer. But the apology did not solve the problem, according to Zhang.

"We are very sorry that a leading U.S. company like Google, which comes from a country that respects IPR, has exhibited a complete disregard for intellectual property in China," he said.

Zhang disclosed that Sohu has issued a demand for Google to stop downloads of its Google Pinyin IME. But Google claimed it had also applied for patents for Chinese IME technology and said that a cease of downloads would be unacceptable. Sohu is now forming a legal team which could sue Google in China or the United States.

Mounting patent disputes

IPR disputes have brought pressure for Chinese companies that are becoming increasingly active in international competition. At the CeBIT, an information and telecommunications technology trade show, in Germany this March, more than 370 products from 30 exhibitors (mostly from China) were confiscated by the German Customs Administration because of suspected IPR violations.

The confiscated products included Chinese brands like Aigo, a consumer technology brand manufactured by the Chinese company Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd.

But according to Feng Jun, CEO of the firm, the confiscation was a "misunderstanding" as his company has always respected IPR. The problem may have been that Huaqi paid the patent fees to the manufacturing factories, which did not pay the fees to the patent holders, he added.

The confiscation of Chinese products at the CeBIT in Germany drew attention from the Chinese Government. Lou Qinjian, Vice Minister of Ministry of Information Industry (MII), called for Chinese companies to study international business rules.

"It seems that we are talking too much about our obligations to the World Trade Organization (WTO) but our companies fail to look into its detailed rules," said Lou.

According to Guo Shoukang, a law professor at Renmin University of China, Chinese companies are failing to prepare for international competition and lack the awareness to respond to IPR disputes.

"I don't rule out that it was a tactic used by foreign competitors by which they kept Chinese companies out of the expo so that Chinese companies would lose a market opportunity," said Guo.

Chinese companies should learn from foreign competitors and form industry associations so as to enhance their negotiation power and better protect the healthy development of their industries, noted You Minjian, a reputed lawyer with the Shanghai Lawyers Association.