"I represent the court and the jury to announce this verdict!" The Judge shouted, and everyone stood up to listen to the verdict.
"Hongmeng Group is not guilty of illegal profits …"
As the Judge continued to announce the verdict, the reporters were shocked to find out that 9 of the 13 charges against Microsoft were not guilty. In the end, only 4 charges were found. Many people were shocked. Didn't Hongmeng plead guilty to all charges? How come only 4 charges were found?
Soon, the court gave the reason for the verdict. The 9 charges that were rejected are all related to illegal profits.
However, the problem was that the Pangu Axe software itself wasn't profitable. The Hongmeng system that was related to the Pangu Axe wasn't profitable either. In fact, the entire Hongmeng company had been playing the role of a money-spreader until now. All of their businesses were in a state of losing money. There wasn't even a trace of profit.
That's why all charges related to illegal profits are not found.
In fact, many legal professionals believed that this outcome was already predetermined. After all, Hong Meng was a newly established company. Their current accounts and business projects were very clear. They had no intention of making money at all. Everything was given away for free. Therefore, there was no way that they could be charged with illegal profit-making.
Microsoft knows it's hard to convict Hong Meng with these nine charges. They added these charges to put more pressure on Hong Meng, and this is a common tactic used in commercial lawsuits.
But the other 4 charges related to copyright infringement were found, and Microsoft's representatives nodded. Now, they will wait for the court's verdict.
Based on Microsoft's prediction, the best outcome will be for Hongmeng system to be found guilty of copyright infringement and stop operations.
In the worst case scenario, Pangu Axe software will have to stop operations, apologize, and compensate Microsoft with a large sum of money.
After that, the Judge announced. "Hongmeng will stop all operations related to Pangu Axe software from the day this verdict is announced. All downloads and sales channels will be deleted. At the same time, Hongmeng will issue an apology to Microsoft in the newspapers and compensate them 100,000 USD."
"What? Only 100,000 USD?!" Microsoft's staff stood up and looked at the verdict in disbelief.
This outcome was the worst outcome they had expected. Furthermore, the court only gave them a compensation of 100,000 USD. What kind of judgment was this?
One had to know that the courts in the United States of America had once ordered the defendant to pay tens of millions of dollars in compensation for a small skin injury.
But Hongmeng is infringing on Microsoft's software, and the court only gave them 100,000 USD as compensation. Is this a joke?
Is there still justice in this world?
Microsoft's representative stood up, and Microsoft's lawyer asked the court to give an explanation. The Secretary of the Jury said. "Today, during the jury's deliberation, Pangu Axe software is not profitable, and Hongmeng will not make any illegal profits!"
"At the same time, Microsoft did not suffer any losses because of the Pangu Axe software. So, the compensation of 100,000 USD is already the maximum compensation given by the jury!"
"Jurors, have you all seen the documents we provided? Now, there are more than 2 million installations of Hongmeng operating system, and these users were tricked by Pangu Axe. They switched from Microsoft operating system to Hongmeng operating system. If we charge 99 USD per Windows operating system for these 2 million users, this is a loss of 200 million USD! "Microsoft's lawyer argued.
"First of all, your evidence only proves that the Hongmeng system has about two million installations, but you can't prove that these two million users were transferred from the Win system!"
"Other than that, even if these users were Win system users, I think they had paid for the original Win system authorization fees. They also have the right to choose other operating systems. That's why they did not cause any harm to Microsoft!" The Secretary of the Jury said calmly.
"But if they do not have Pangu Axe, they will not choose Hongmeng. They will continue to use Win system!" Microsoft's representative argued.
"Enough!" The Judge said. "Plaintiff, please respect the jury's verdict. If you all are not satisfied with the verdict, please appeal to the Supreme Court. Today's verdict is over!"
After the Judge finished speaking, he left the courtroom. Zhou Hongwei bowed to Microsoft's representative and left the courtroom with Hongmeng's representative. Only Microsoft's representative was left behind. He looked at the reporters' microphones and left the courtroom without saying a word.
Just like that, the lively trial ended peacefully.
A few days later, a well-connected media outlet found a member of the jury. Then, this member recounted what had happened during the deliberation.
The jury is satisfied with Hongmeng's attitude. They felt Zhou Hongwei and Hongmeng are good people and companies, and they should be lenient towards them.
Secondly, giving Hongmeng a light sentence will be good for their future generations.
The jury felt that Zhou Hongwei and Hongmeng should admit their mistakes. Admitting their mistakes should be encouraged, and the jury should support them with an appropriate attitude.
Otherwise, if the sentence was still heavy, then in the future, when faced with the same situation, all criminals would try their best to quibble and not confess. This would greatly reduce the moral quality of citizens. Therefore, an excellent attitude should be encouraged.
In the end, as for why the compensation was set so low, the jury member gave a rather nonsensical answer. "Among the 32 jury members, 20 of them are white-collar workers. Most of them have advanced degrees and need to be in contact with computers for a long time!"
The reporters did not understand the jury's answer and continued to ask. "That's why they are fed up with the expensive Win98 operating system. The more they use it, the more laggy it gets. The average Win98 crashes once a day."
"All of us agree that Microsoft had monopolized the operating system market for a long time, and they are too arrogant. They ignore the user's experience and only care about making money. That's why Microsoft needs a competitor. This is the only way Microsoft and Win will consider their customers first. They will not think they have no competition and can treat their customers like leeks!"
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