SEATTLE - Microsoft suspended a Twitter-like social-networking service released by its MSN China unit after discovering the site used code copied from Plurk, a Canadian startup.
Plurk accused Microsoft of taking the code for its so-called microblogging site, which lets users post short updates.
The outside vendor Microsoft contracted
to build MSN China's Juku service has acknowledged that part of the code it provided was copied, Microsoft said in an emailed statement.
Microsoft, which has sued software counterfeiters and lobbied Governments to fight piracy and intellectual-property theft, said it would work with MSN China to examine the hiring of third parties to develop applications.
Microsoft said the vendor's actions violated its contract, which included "strong language" barring the inclusion of code that infringing intellectual-property rights.
Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, suspended the service indefinitely and apologised to Plurk.
Microsoft released the service in a test version in November.
- BLOOMBERG
