Online bookstore sued for selling illegal books
27/8/2008 17:12
The popular Chinese-language online bookstore Dangdang.com was sued with
selling illegally published books at a court hearing held in Beijing
yesterday.
Zhang Hongru, president of the Beijing-based Tuanjie Publishing
House, took Dangdang to court after he bought on its website in early July a
book allegedly compiled by himself and found it was counterfeited and illegally
published.
Dangdang was asked to provide the source of the illegal book
within 10 days at yesterday's hearing in the local Dongcheng District People's
Court.
"Dangdang shall provide the evidence, otherwise it will have to take
full responsibility," Wang Xuelin, the prosecution attorney, told Xinhua
today.
Zhang compiled the book "Encyclopedia of World Affairs in the 21st
Century" in 1993 and it was published by the Beijing Publishing House. The book
he bought from Dangdang, however, was printed with his name and the Beijing
Publishing House title while the content was largely different.
Zhang asked
in his complaint that Dangdang should make a public apology in the China Press
and Publishing Journal and pay more than 60,000 yuan (US$8,700) for damaging his
reputation and infringing his copyright.
According to China's Copyright Law,
producing or selling a counterfeited work can be punished by an apology and
payment of damages, as well as a cessation of selling the work.
Dangdang's
attorney Gui Jin refused to comment. However the book at the center of the court
case is still for sale on Dangdang.
It has not been the first time that
Dangdang was sued for selling illegally published books. In a similar case in
2007, the court asked Dangdang to remove illegal books from its website but no
compensation was ordered.
Dangdang is one of the largest Chinese-language
online retailers, and online shopping is becoming popular in China, especially
among young people. Chinese online shoppers spent 16.2 billion yuan (US$2.3
billion) in 19 major cities in the first half of 2008.
Xinhua
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