Just a month after launching a beta micro-blogging web site in the Chinese market, Microsoft has temporarily suspended the Twitter-like blog amid accusations that it copied code from a similar service. Plurk, a startup in China, says the software giant copied 80 percent of its code to create the Juku micro-blog.
Juku was made available to MSN China users to find friends via micro-blogging and online games. In a blog post on Plurk, the startup founders called Juku’s user interface and design an exact copy of Plurk’s time-line scrolling navigation system. Juku’s filter tabs, emoticons, media support, qualifier and verb placements are all mirror images of Plurk’s, they said.
“Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but blatant theft of code, design and UI elements is just not cool, especially when the infringing party is the biggest software company in the world,” a user named Amix wrote on the company’s official blog. “We’re still in shock asking why Microsoft would even stoop to this level of willfully plagiarizing a young and innovative startup’s work rather than reach out to us or innovate on its own terms.”
Plurk’s founders said the move was even more ironic considering Microsoft’s efforts in fighting for stronger IP laws and combating software piracy in China.
Microsoft executives said the allegations of copying first arose in the middle of the night in China. During the work day Tuesday, the software company had teams working to track down exactly what happened.
Microsoft is working with its joint venture, MSN China, to investigate the allegations surrounding Juku and will provide additional information once more is available.
As of this morning, Microsoft was told that MSN China contracted with an independent vendor to create MSN Juku.
Because questions have been raised about the code base compromising the service, MSN China will be…