The Chinese Word for Contradiction? SIPO, Isn’t It?

China’s state-run newspaper, the Shanghai Securities News, has got it all wrong. Beijing isn’t investigating whether Microsoft engaged in discriminatory pricing. Nor does it plan to file an antitrust lawsuit against it once the country’s anti-monopoly laws are enacted in August.

At least that’s what China’s State Intellectual Property Office is claiming, anyway. This morning SIPO denied reports that it’s investigating Microsoft’s (MSFT) market position in the country. “The [State Intellectual Property] Office believes these reports are not real,” SIPO said in a statement. “The Office is authorized by the relevant government agencies to investigate and research domestic piracy issues. … The Office has never undertaken any market monopoly investigation, and has no plan to do so.”

A vehement denial. But one perhaps worth questioning, considering that a SIPO official confirmed the investigation to Agence France-Presse this morning: “Our departments are carrying out the investigation,” the official said. “We will release the findings later.”