The QQ / 360 Disputes - Who, What, Where, When and Preliminary Antitrust Analysis

Recently, the disputes between Tencent's QQ and Qihoo's 360 software have caused quite a stir in the press (see our article entitled " QQ vs 360 – an anti unfair competition case".

We set out the "whos", "whats", "where" and "when" or the background to these disputes. We also provide our preliminary views or analysis re these disputes vis-à-vis the Anti Unfair Competition Law (AUCL) and the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML).

Background

Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Limited is a internet service provider – its most well known product, however is an instant messaging system known as "QQ" (Tencent QQ).

Beijing Qihoo Technology Limited supplies security software – its most well known line of products, are its "360" line of security software (including software which protects user's privacy on the internet and anti-virus software) (Qihoo 360).