The Intermediate People's Court of Nanjing in eastern China
sentenced the Twelve Girls Band to compensation of about 20,000
yuan (US$2,613) for copyright infringements.
The Twelve Girls Band played the music of Ala Muhan and
Girl of Daban City in their Nanjing New Year live set at
the beginning of 2006. The Music Copyright Society of China sued
the band at the end of that year.
Though Ala Muhan and Girl of Daban City are
folk songs, the copyrights belong to Wang Luobin, a renowned Han
Chinese songwriter who specialized in composing Mandarin-language
songs based on the music of various ethnic minorities in western
China. Wang Luobin had accredited the Music Copyright Society of
China to take charge of the copyrights.
The Twelve Girls Band is a music group, always appearing as
twelve on stage, using traditional Chinese instruments to play both
Chinese traditional and Western songs.
(CRI.cn May 25, 2007)