Microsoft chairman and founder Bill Gates on Wednesday criticized China for doing too little to protect intellectual property.
Microsoft has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in China because of lax protections for copyrights and patents, straining its relationship with the emerging economic superpower.
“They have work to do in terms of obeying copyright laws," Gates told The Hill during a visit to Capitol Hill. “They themselves are creating copyrights and patents and things like that and they have artists, scientists and writers, so I think over time they will get better on this issue," said Gates, who visited Washington on Wednesday to testify before a congressional panel on foreign aid.
“Certainly, on some of the software copyright things, the level of enforcement is quite weak," he said.
Bootleg copies of Microsoft software have flooded the Chinese markets, including copies of Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system.
Reuters reported in October that copies of the new operating software were selling for about $3 in local Chinese markets -- compared to more than $300 in Western markets.
Microsoft has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in China because of lax protections for copyrights and patents, straining its relationship with the emerging economic superpower.
“They have work to do in terms of obeying copyright laws," Gates told The Hill during a visit to Capitol Hill. “They themselves are creating copyrights and patents and things like that and they have artists, scientists and writers, so I think over time they will get better on this issue," said Gates, who visited Washington on Wednesday to testify before a congressional panel on foreign aid.
“Certainly, on some of the software copyright things, the level of enforcement is quite weak," he said.
Bootleg copies of Microsoft software have flooded the Chinese markets, including copies of Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system.
Reuters reported in October that copies of the new operating software were selling for about $3 in local Chinese markets -- compared to more than $300 in Western markets.
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