Writers Receive 540,000 Yuan in Copyright Infringement DamagesTwenty-five Chinese writers and their agents Monday received over 540,000 yuan from a Beijing court in copyright infringement damages.Noted writers Cong Weixi, Zhang Kangkang, Xiao Fuxing and several others came in person and received the money from the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court. Agents of noted Chinese writers Ba Jin, Wang Meng, and Bing Xin (late) also came to pick up their money. Wang Meng and 28 other writers or their heirs filed a lawsuit in June 2000 to the Beijing court, accusing the Jilin Photography Publishing House of failing to obtain their permits or pay any money to them in publishing their works in an essay collection in April 2000. The court ruled in favor of the writers in August 2000, ordering the Jilin publishing house to apologize publicly and pay the writers a total of 680,000 yuan in economic losses. The writers got the apology and a fraction of the money soon after the court ruling, but had to appeal to the court again in March this year for the payment of the rest of the money. |
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