The bad blood between Qihoo and Tencent runs pretty deep at this point. Last year’s PR slugfest has evolved into a series of court cases, the latest of which begins today in Guangdong. Tencent stands accused of monopolistic practices for bundling its anti-virus software with the popular QQ IM software, forcing QQ users to forgo other anti-virus and security options (including, of course, those offered by Qihoo).
Today, Sina Tech revealed in full the content of an internal memo Qihoo CEO Zhou Hongyi sent to staff about the lawsuit. The memo is dated today, meaning it was leaked pretty quickly, and possibly intentionally. In it, he’s got some very strong words for Tencent:
From [previous cases and Tencent’s behavior] we can see that Tencent has not engaged in any deep reflection on its mistakes in the “3Q War” as it publicly said it would, and instead is attempting to use lawsuits both to cover up its own disgraceful, monopolistic “two-for-one” behavior and to create obstacles for the development of our company. Facing this situation, the company [Qihoo] has decided to use the law to protect itself, and in October of 2011 we sued Tencent for monopolistic practices.
The whole memo is a bit over the top. Zhou alludes to the Microsoft anti-monopoly suit, crediting it with the rise of Facebook and Google in the US and implying Qihoo’s suit could have a similar effect. He also framed the lawsuit as an example of Qihoo sticking up for smaller companies to stop Tencent’s unjust practices:
Most companies can only resign themselves to enduring Tencent’s abuse of its status in the market, and the few companies that stand up can only strongly criticize [Tencent]. Qihoo hopes that this anti-monopoly lawsuit will eliminate the abuse of [Tencent’s] controlling-the-market status, restrict competitive behavior, and end the chaos of the internet, purifying the internet environment.
Yes, if there’s anything that can help purify the internet environment in China, it’s a series of ugly lawsuits and mudslinging memos like this one. Qihoo has marched into the courtroom for you, internet citizen, and for you, small internet company! We’re sure the fact that it stands to gain buckets of money (specifically, $24 million) and a potential slice of a big market if the decision goes its way is purely coincidental.
[via Sina Tech]
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