Solid Oak Software has filed a $2.2 billion lawsuit against the Chinese government, two Chinese software developers, and seven PC manufacturers, alleging that they stole code from its Cybersitter content filtering program and used the code as part of the Chinese government's Web censorship efforts.

"The lawsuit alleges copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, and conspiracy," writes CNET News' Elinor Mills. "It claims that the Chinese makers of the Green Dam Youth Escort software illegally copied more than 3,000 lines of code from the Cybersitter program and that more than 56 million copies of Green Dam were distributed, even after allegations of copyright were made public."

"Last June, China's government began requiring that all PCs sold in the country be shipped with the Green Dam software, ostensibly to protect young people from pornography," Mills writes.

Click here to read the CNET News story.