Already a big hit in some Asian countries, the South Korean TV series "Dae Jang Geum" now stirs up the book market, with two similar novel versions of the record-breaking soap opera being published on the Chinese mainland. Readers are confused about which version is the original.

Both the versions are named "Dae Jang Geum" with images of the leading actress Lee Young-ae printed on the cover: One was released in May by People's Literature Publishing House and the other was published by Yilin Press last September.

However, some readers felt cheated after reading the Yilin version, in which the story has nothing to do with the TV series, even though the characters are the same.

Actually in South Korea, there are also two literary versions of "Dae Jang Geum," according to a source close to Eric Yang Agency, an international copyright company. One is written by Kim Young-hyun and Yu Min-ju, published by the South Korea-based Aengnamoo press house. Kim wrote the drama scripts of“Dae Jang Geum”for South Korea's MBC TV Network based on the unknown life of royal doctor Jang Guem during Korea’s Chosun Dynasty (1506-1544). Aengnamoo later obtained the license for the exclusive publishing right of the novel version of the drama from MBC.

The other novel called "Dr. Dae Jang Geum," published by South Korea's Greenfish Magic, is, however, totally different from the broadcasting drama. It is based on this book that the Yilin Press made its version of "Dae Jang Geum."

Chinese readers are angry about the Yilin version. "If this version is not based on the TV series, why it printed Lee Young-ae's portrait on the cover and enclosed tens of posters from the television. I think readers are fooled by Yilin." said Lin Yi, a Chinese reader.

Zhao Wei, a staff member of Yilin in charge of copyright issues, admitted that the novel they translated was not based on the TV series. However, the characters and historical settings in this book were the same, she argued.

"We associated the book the famed TV drama in order to promote it. We bought the using rights of the posters from a Beijing-based photo company and then enclose them in the novel," said Zhao.

A copyright lawyer said that whether Yilin had the right to use the posters depended on whether it had obtained the license from the TV series agent company or Aengamoo, because a photo company could only sell the posters for media use.

Industry insiders concluded that as domestic press houses started showing an interest in publishing books based on currently popular soap operas, they should pay more attention to the copyright issues while using the posters for promotion.