Plurk to Microsoft: Apologies don't cut it, show us the money

A day after Microsoft admitted that it stole code from Plurk, a rival microblogging site, Microsoft faces the possibility of a lawsuit, and one would certainly be justified. Expect Microsoft to pay through the nose for this one.

Yesterday Microsoft admitted that it had stolen the design and code of Plurk for its micro-blogging site in China called Juku, which is a rival to Plurk. Juku was developed by a third party for MSN's Chinese joint venture. Microsoft pulled down Juku after the revelation.

But just pulling it down isn't enough. The IDG News Service reports that Plurk is considering a suit against Microsoft. The article quotes Plurk cofounder Alvin Woon saying:

"We are definitely looking at all possibilities on how to move forward in response to Microsoft's recent statement. A lawsuit is definitely one of the many options we have considered and will continue to look closely to."

Translation: Pay up or we'll see you in court.

Making the matter more egregious is that the code theft wasn't a simple matter of merely lifting code; it took a good amount of digging and gruntwork, according to Plurk spokesman Dave Thompson. He told seattlepi.com that the Plurk code is not patented, and so Plurk spent a good deal of effort hiding its code to make it difficult to copy. Here's what seattlepi.com has to say about that:

That means whoever might have copied the code would have required considerable time to dive in, grab pieces and successfully incorporate it into another product, Thompson said.

"It's not as easy as just going in and copying it," he said. "There was some real thought that went into this."

Right now, Microsoft no doubt is putting some real thought into how much money it should pay Plurk for the code theft. The last thing it wants to do is let this one drag through the courts.