Plurk has alleged that MSN Juku, a service where users could share 140-character messages on a scrolling timeline, appeared to have stolen up to 80 percent of its codebase from Plurk, a Twitter rival popular in Asia. After being accused of copying programming code from Plurk, Microsoft suspended the microblog-style site for Chinese users.

As reported by the Computerworld, in a blog post, Plurk has shown screenshots and samples of similar JavaScript and CSS code pulled from both services.

Microsoft is looking into the allegations against MSN Juku, which a Microsoft joint venture in China hired a third-party vendor to develop, the company said in a statement. The service, still in beta and launched last month, could not be accessed on Tuesday. Microsoft promised to release further information as it learned more.

However, Plurk did not reply to e-mails or phone calls on Tuesday.