Sohu threatens to sue Google

Chinese search engine Sohu.com is threatening to sue Google after the California-based search engine apologized for using data from Sohu for its new internet tool for inputting Chinese characters. "It's a disgrace for a US company which takes pride in its respect for intellectual property rights. We will launch a lawsuit against them anytime," said Charles Zhang, CEO of Sohu.com, state media reported. On April 4, Google launched its new Chinese input method editor software called Guge Pinyin. It was found to be surprisingly similar to Sougou Pinyin, which was released by Sohu.com in June 2006. Google admitted on Monday that "it did include some data sources that don't belong to Google in the trial period of the product" and "felt sorry for its users and Sohu.com." Sohu.com said it had started patent applications for the key technologies before it released its Sougou Pinyin in 2006, but has yet to receive a patent for the technology. Read more in the Editors' Blog.