"I firmly believe the war between Tencent and Qihoo 360 is positive for the Internet industry," said Wang.

The debate between the two sides and the trial helps improve the supervision of the Internet industry, he said.

The two companies have been engaged in a drawn-out legal war since 2010.

Qihoo 360 lost a lawsuit that it filed against Tencent over the latter's alleged abuse of its dominant market position on March 28 this year and was ordered to pay 790,000 yuan in legal fees, according to a ruling from the Guangdong Provincial High People's Court.

It also lost a lawsuit over its unfair competition in September 2011 and was ordered to pay 400,000 yuan in compensation to Tencent, according to a ruling from the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court.

The origin of their feud began on Sept 27, 2010 when Qihoo 360 accused Tencent of invading the privacy of its users through the use of QQ Doctor, a security program developed by Tencent for use with its popular QQ instant messaging service. Qihoo 360 claimed that Tencent has used the software to scan and monitor its users' personal information.

Following the complaint, Qihoo 360 released its own security software called "Koukou Guard" on Oct 29, 2010, claiming it could speed up QQ and offer more privacy to its users. However, Tencent responded by warning its users that the "Koukou Guard" could cause QQ to malfunction.

The dispute escalated when Tencent said on Nov 3, 2010 that it would shut down the QQ instant messaging service on computers that had security software created by Qihoo 360 installed on them.

Although both companies apologized to Internet users after being ordered by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to stop fighting, the war between the two Internet giants had already triggered public outcry.

Earlier reports

Qihoo 360 loses suit against Tencent

Tencent, Qihoo 360 face off in court

China to investigate law violation in Tencent-Qihoo 360 spat

Compromise in sight in Tencent-Qihoo 360 spat

Tencent stock a fatality of war

Netizens cry foul as Tencent and 360 battle it out

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