In a landmark case, six famous mainland authors have won damages from an Internet company that posted their books on its Web site without their approval and without any payment to them.
The mainland's first lawsuit involving copyright on the Net was heard in a court in the Beijing district of Haidian, the country's computer centre, on Saturday and considered of such significance that Beijing television broadcast it live.
After nearly three hours of fierce argument, the three judges found in favour of the authors who had sued the Century Internet Telecomand Technology Co for putting their work on its 'Beijing On Line' site.
The judges met the demands of the six, by awarding them sums ranging from 3,000 (about HK$2,799) to 31,500 yuan in economic losses, plus 5,000 yuan each in psychological damage and ordered the company to make a public apology.
The mainland does not have clear regulations on the issue of Internet copyright and the six authors and Century Internet are well known.
The ruling is expected to set a precedent for future lawsuits, with much of the material on the Net put there without prior consultation with the individuals or companies that created it.
Lawyers for the six argued that the company had infringed the copyright of the six by putting their novels on the Internet without their permission and without paying them.
