A copyright dispute involving 29 famous contemporary writers was
settled in the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court, with the
writers winning the lawsuit.
This is the largest copyright dispute in China since 1949 in terms
of the number of writers involved.
The 29 writers, including Ba Jin and Wang Meng, made a lawsuit to
the court around June, accusing the Jilin Photo Publishing House
and the Beijing Xinhua Book Co., Ltd. of infringing copyright by
illegally publishing and distributing a book series titled "
Classical Essays by Famous Chinese Writers in the Twenty
Century."
The book series include essays by these writers, and the publisher
neither sought permission from the writers nor remunerated
them.
Therefore, the writers appealed to the court for stopping the
distribution of the book series and asked the Jinlin Province-based
publisher to pay 99,000 yuan for infringing copyright and 10, 000
yuan in compensation to each writer.
After legal proceedings, the court handed down its verdict,
ordering the publisher to pay 23,760 yuan to each of the 29 writers
for copyright infringement, and to stop distributing the book
series immediately while publishing written apologies in
newspapers.
(Xinhua)