Beijing's procuratorate, or public prosecutor, has placed a case on file that computing giant Apple is involved in pirating books by mainland writers.
The Writers' Rights Alliance, representing nine authors, filed the case with the Beijing No2 Intermediate People's Court, Alliance spokesman Bei Zhicheng said. The group is seeking about 12 million yuan (HK$14.7 million) in compensation for copyright violation.
The alliance was set up in late 2010 after finding that hundreds of applications at Apple's App Store offered unauthorised downloads of their books.
Apple Computer in Beijing was not available for comment yesterday.
In late September, the alliance filed the case accusing Apple's App Store of profiting from pirated versions of 37 works by the nine writers, who include novelists and popular bloggers Han Han , Murong Xuecun , Kong Ergou and He Ma .
Bei said another 10 well-known writers joined the alliance this month to sue Apple on the same charge. 'Nanpai Sanshu, who was second on the top rich list of Chinese writers, is one of them. These authors will also demand large compensation from Apple for violating their intellectual-property rights.'
Bei believes more Chinese authors will be encouraged to join them as the case progresses.