Today, Plurk put out a press release that stated that they were still thinking about pursuing legal action against Microsoft. A division of Microsoft (MSFT) hired a dev firm that essentially copied Plurk’s application, lifting code and putting it online for use in Asia. Yesterday, Microsoft admitted their fault in the situation and offered a upfront and honest apology to Plurk for their infraction, and pulled the site.

Now Plurk is still considering seeking legal damages.

“We are still thinking of pursuing the full extent of our legal options available due the seriousness of the situation. Basically, Microsoft accepts responsibility, but they do not offer accountability.”

Plurk: you have no legal options available. Unless if you want to spend more than you will make in the past and next few years (do they even have cashflow?) in fighting Microsoft with a case you won’t win, it’s really a lost cause. You were able to get PR and get Microsoft to admit honestly to something they’ve done wrong (which is rare).

It’s too bad that startups have no leverage, but startups just have to deal with it. Especially Plurk: if Microsoft had ignored Plurk and gone on to promote the site heavily and gain tons of traffic, then yes, Plurk would certainly have a case. If a big corp stole Google’s code, they can wage war. But the infringing website was deactivated, the site was only launched for a month, Microsoft offered an apology and confronted the dev shop, and the result is absolutely no damage to Plurk done and a lot of PR for Plurk.

Plurk thinks they have more leverage than they think. The current situation is perfect for both of them. A lawsuit, if submitted, will just create a loss of value for Plurk and somewhat for Microsoft. Why doesn’t Plurk just put it towards developing a better product?