The State Intellectual Property Office told Xinhua on Thursday that it is conducting investigations into claims that it used pirated software, but stressed that staff members in its offices all use properly licensed software.

Allegations appeared online recently to the effect that the office was using pirated PowerPoint software made by Tomato Garden, a company that previously sold illegal versions of Windows XP.

A netizen with the username Chaoji Zhenxinren posted a screen capture on his Sina micro blog showing that the author of a PowerPoint document being downloaded from the website of the State Intellectual Property Office was "Tomato Garden".

The pirate software company came to public attention in 2008, when Hong Lei, creator and distributor of Tomato Garden products, was arrested for selling a pirated version of Windows XP. The pirated software had become popular with Chinese computer users due to its low cost relative to official Microsoft products.

After Hong's arrest, the intellectual property office said that it would strengthen regulations on pirated software.