How awkward! Chinese web portal Sohu.com (SOHU) has accused Google (GOOG) of stealing its code, and the latter has copped to the charge. The hot code is embedded within a recently released tool called the Google Pinyin Input Method Editor. Yes, said a blushing Google flak, the Pinyin tool thingie might just have improperly  “leveraged some non-Google database resources.”

Pinyin is a phonetic expression of Chinese Kangxi that uses Roman letters. The software in question thus allows users of a western-style keyboard to write in Chinese. That’s not exactly the biggest gun in Google’s arsenal, but it’s certainly a useful trick, particularly for a Western search engine trying to grow share in China.

Caught more or less going native with their business practices, the “Do no evil” gang did the right thing: they emailed an apology to Sohu this morning, and made sure to copy Reuters. “We are willing to face this issue of ours,” Google bravely wrote. “While we apologize for the inconvenience this may have incurred to users and Sohu, we have also adopted immediate actions.”