Uh oh! What happens when Microsoft, the biggest software company, runs out of ideas? They steal! From a startup!

MSN China launched its own microblogging service, MSN Juku/Hompy/Mclub, back in November 2009 and surprised many when it looked like a ripoff of Plurk, another microblogging site.

And it wasn’t just the design Microsoft copied, Plurk Labs reported that “some 80% of the client and product codebase appears to be stolen directly from Plurk!”

Here are some of the screen captures Plurk labs made to prove the theft:


The guys over at Plurk are obviously hurt and shocked over theft, saying:

We’re still in shock asking why Microsoft would even stoop to this level of wil[l]fully plagiari[z]ing a young and innovative upstart’s work rather than reach out to us or innovate on their own terms. Of course, it just hits that much closer to home when all your years of hard work and effort to create something unique are stolen so brazenly. All the more ironic considering Microsoft has often been leading the charge on fighting for stronger IP laws and combating software piracy in China.

Microsoft defended itself in a press release:

Earlier today, questions arose over a feature developed by a third-party vendor for our MSN China joint venture. We are working with our MSN China joint venture to investigate the situation.

Unfortunately, when these questions first arose, it was the middle of the night in China. Now that the day has begun in China, our teams are working hard to track down the information.

Here’s what we know at this point. Our MSN China joint venture contracted with an independent vendor to create a feature called MSN Juku that allowed MSN users to find friends via microblogging and online games. This MSN Juku feature was made available to MSN China users in November and is still in beta.

Because questions have been raised about the code base comprising the service, MSN China will be suspending access to the Juku beta feature temporarily while we investigate the matter fully.

We will provide additional information as we learn more.

MSN Juku/Hompy/Mclub is still up but is redirecting to Live.com. If you understand Chinese, here’s MSN China’s statement:

尊敬的用户:

我们抱歉的通知您，聚酷部分功能代码正在内部审查，服务暂时不能提供。请您稍后再访问本站。详细信息请通过微软MSN官方博客查询。

给您造成的不便，深表歉意。

Looks like heads are going to roll in MSN China.

(thanks to Inquisitr)