Tencent, China's biggest Internet company, has won its third lawsuit against Qihoo 360, a leading Chinese antivirus software developer, over the latter's unfair competition, according to a court ruling issued on Thursday.

Qihoo 360 was accused of breaching faithfulness as well as equal competition and was obvious in malicious competition against Tencent, a Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court ruling said.

Qihoo 360 seriously disturbed the Internet business order and set down the roots of a long and drawn-out legal war between the two companies, it added.

Qihoo 360 was also fined 5 million yuan (802,568 U.S. dollars) as compensation to Tencent and was asked to apologize on its official website and via several major portal websites and newspapers.

The compensation sum is the highest that has ever been ordered in Internet competition lawsuits in China, said Zhang Xuejun, the chief judge.

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 Higher 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.

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