Courts Stop MSFT Selling Old Windows in China

A Chinese court has stopped the sale of many versions of Microsoft Windows because of a violation of a licensing agreement.

Zhongyi Electronic claims that Microsoft has been using its Chinese fonts in versions of Windows dating back as far as Windows 95. While Microsoft obtained a license to use the fonts in Windows 95, Zhongyi says the company did not have permission to use them in subsequent versions including Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, and Windows XP.

Naturally, Microsoft believes this is all one big misunderstanding and says it will be appealing the ruling. According to CNN, Microsoft has said it believes the agreement covers the company's use of the fonts.

The ruling does not affect Microsoft's newest OS, Windows 7, nor does it affect Windows Vista so in reality, this probably means very little for Microsoft in terms of sales. The company said Thursday that it doesn't expect product sales to be affected.

More here and Weezer's Buddy Holly because it came bundled with Windows 95.