bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

The Beijing institution illegally sold test papers for US university entry exams

A popular English-language training school has been ordered to pay 10 million yuan (HK$9.4 million) in compensation to two United States companies for illegally selling test papers for key US university entry examinations.

On Saturday, the Beijing No1 Intermediate People's Court ruled in favour of two American educational organisations in a copyright and trademark lawsuit against New Oriental School.

The school has for years sold test papers without permission to help students improve their scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).

The privately run, Beijing-based institution  is regarded as one of China's best English training schools, and is particularly strong on the TOEFL and GRE tests.

New Oriental has training schools across the country and controls more than 50 per cent of the overseas study training market. All students from non-English-speaking countries applying to graduate schools in the US must take TOEFL and GRE tests. The tests are available on New Oriental's website.

'It's a totally monopolised market. It takes a lot of time to prepare for those tests, so going to New Oriental is a good choice if you don't want to fail the exams,' said one  test-taker.

New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service, which developed the tests, has registered its TOEFL and GRE test paper copyrights in the US.  It has also registered 'TOEFL' and 'GRE' as trademarks in China. The Virginia-based Graduate Management Admission Council, developer of the GMAT test, has also registered its trademark in China.

In 1997, mainland industry and commerce  officials confiscated illegal  test papers made by New Oriental, which admitted it was violating copyright laws. However, the school continued to sell the tests.

Xu Xiaoping, a board member of New Oriental, said the school sold illegal copies of the test papers because Educational Testing Service did not sell test questions in China. This was unfair, Mr Xu said, because China had the largest number of TOEFL and GRE takers in the world. Educational Testing Service began selling copies of the exams only this month, he added.  New Oriental was also ordered to make an open apology to the US companies in the Legal Daily.

'Educational Testing Service should also have to apologise to examination takers in the mainland. They have waited too long to be able to buy legal copies,' Mr Xu said. The school would appeal  against the decision, he said.



School told to pay $9m in row on copyright