Qihoo 360, a leading Chinese antivirus software developer, lost a lawsuit that it filed against Tencent, the country's biggest Internet company, over the latter's abuse of its dominant market position, according to a court ruling issued on March 28.

Tencent did not create a monopoly and all of Qihoo 360's appeals have been rejected, according to a ruling from the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court. Qihoo 360 was also ordered to pay 790,000 yuan ($125,912) in legal fees.

Qihoo 360 sued Tencent in October 2011 for hindering market competition and abusing its position. It also asked for 150 million yuan ($24.15 million) in compensation from Tencent. The court had tried to mediate between the two sides but failed.

Qihoo 360 claimed that QQ, an online chat program developed by Tencent that has more than 780 million active users, has a 76.2-percent market share.

But the court said users have multiple choices for similar instant messaging products.

A survey from the China Internet Network Information Center showed that 63.4 percent of users had used more than two different types of instant messaging software within six months.