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.

Tariff Exemption

China began dropping import tariffs and import-related value-added taxes for a range of advanced components and raw materials for making sophisticated equipment on April 1, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Items that enjoy tax exemption include high-speed railway signal systems, garbage sorting systems, solar cells, integrated circuits and manufacturing equipment for flat-panel displays.

Importers of said components and raw materials should register with customs and taxation authorities for tariff exemption review between April 1 and April 30.

Nonferrous Metals Slump

Despite an increase in production of nonferrous metals, the sector's profits declined markedly in 2012.

Combined profits of nonferrous enterprises with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan ($3.22 million) reached 166.6 billion yuan ($26.82 billion), a year-on-year decline of 16.3 percent, , according to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA).

Jia Mingxing, Vice Chairman of the CNIA, said the industry is still facing challenges regarding environmental protection, energy conservation, resource guarantees and excess production capacity.

The 10 major nonferrous metals monitored in China are copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, nickel, tin, antimony, magnesium, titanium and mercury.