At Microsoft's behest, the State Copyright Bureau recently investigated Beijing Zhongxinlian Company and Tianjin Minzu Disk Company, and this week the Bureau found both guilty of copying Microsoft's System Recovery software.

In line with the "Computer Software Protection Rules" of China, Beijing Zhongxinlian has been fined CNY80000 and the illegal income of CNY10405 derived from selling 55000 pirated disks was confiscated.

Tianjin Minzu Disk received a stiffer fine of CNY100000, but it was ordered to pay a low CNY600 as an administrative punishment.

This is the first time in China for Microsoft to target System Recovery software counterfeiters.

Local media report that these two companies were not normal small-time underground counterfeiters. Both have strong ties to local government agencies and were commissioned by their customers to produce the counterfeit disks.