Google has admitted to using Chinese portal Sohu’s typing technology in latest product, according to Reuters. Google admitted its method had been built “leveraging some non-Google database resources” and, in its apology,said it has corrected the problem. Google recently released its Pinyin Input Method Editor, a software application that enables the user to enter Chinese characters by typing their Pinyin – a system for writing Chinese with English-language characters – equivalents on a QWERTY keyboard. After recognizing similarities with Sohu’s search features, the Chinese portal claimed Google’s offering was a mere copy, Techwack reported. InfoWorld has some good background, including how the copying was discovered. 

Separately, Reuters reports that Chinese search engine Baidu has been dealing with a different kind of copying issue in Japan. The ghost website, which carries the name “CBC Company” in Japanese, has a note at the top on its front page that reads: “Our company has absolutely no connection with Japan Baidu K.K. and is a legal Japanese corporation.” Last month, after Baidu unveiled its official Japanese version, the Japan Intellectual Property Arbitration Center ruled that the domain name should be transferred to Baidu.
Meanwhile, Reuters notes that Google too has a “ghost double” problem in China, although its efforts to resolve the problem hasn’t gone as smoothly. The site, www.Gmail.cn, uses a name and logo that bears a close resemblance to Google’s Gmail service. In a report last February, Reuters said that Google was trying to buy the internet domain name “Gmail.cn” from Beijing-based domain registrar ISM Technologies, which so far has refused to sell it. It’s uncertain whether Google is pursuing legal action. It’s not the only Gmail issue for Google—the company can’t use the name in Europe because of trademark disputes.
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