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Website Sues Publishing Company for Copyright Infringement
An Internet website has sued a publishing company for copyright infringement, marking the first time a "new media" company has sued an "old media" company in China.
According to the Guangming Daily, the Chinese website dedicated to original works, www.rongshu.com, has filed a lawsuit against China Society Press in the Beijing First Intermediate Court for copyright infringement.
According to a spokesman from www.rongshu.com, a series of books published by the China Society Press was copied from nine articles written by four writers, whose copyrights are owned by www.rongshu.com. The authors have signed a contract with www.rongshu.com giving www.rongshu.com permission to use their copyrights. The writers say that they were unaware that a publishing company had published their works.
The website www.rongshu.com is asking for 10,001 yuan in compensation and an apology. It says that after repaying the writers in accordance to the copyright laws, it will donate the rest of the money to an intellectual property research organization.
Although China has intellectual property laws, it does not specifically say anything about the copyrights of works published on the Internet. According to Zhang Shengyou, head of Writers Publishing House, until new intellectual copyright laws are passed, protection of Internet publishing copyrights will refer to the rules on paper media. The author of works published on the Internet should own the rights to their name and compensations.
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