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Yahoo China just lost a lawsuit to Qihoo, a rival portal, but the company’s not going to go broke over this one; the court only required that Yahoo China pay out $9,210 and use its homepage (for one week) to display an apology.

Yahoo China Loses Suit, Must Say "I'm Sorry"

That sounds like a slap on the wrist - a sort of virtual dunce cap - more than a real punishment.  There is a precedent for these terms, however, as “in early July, Qihoo was ordered to apologize to China Yahoo on its home page for 24 hours, and pay RMB 30,000 ($3,950) to China Yahoo,” according to Interfax China.

Why the back-and-forth?  There have been allegations that Qihoo’s founder embezzled from and defrauded Yahoo China.  Furthermore, as Interfax’s Rita Shen notes, Qihoo’s “Safe360 began identifying China Yahoo’s 3721 Internet surfing tool as malware, removing it from the computers of users.  Soon after, Safe360 appeared to become the victim of electronic sabotage, something the company blamed on updated versions of 3721.  Accusations and counter-accusations were exchanged . . .”

And now, at long last, both companies may be at peace.  “The ruling should signal an end to the long-running battle of attrition between Qihoo and China Yahoo,” writes Shen.

That’s not to say Yahoo’s problems in China are entirely over - it still faces some thorny issues relating to a jailed dissident.  And its market share could be better.  But at least the Qihoo lawsuit got resolved in a relatively harmless manner.  Hat tip to Barry Schwartz.