Jew World Order

A group of Chinese writers accusing Apple’s online store of selling pirated copies of their books is seeking US$8 million in compensation from the technology giant, state media has reported.

(Credit: Lindsey Turrentine/CNET)

The group has filed the 50 million yuan claim against Apple on behalf of 22 writers, including famed author Han Han, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The group alleges that the US giant’s App Store has been selling unlicensed copies of 95 books.

Han Han was also one of more than 40 authors involved in a copyright row with Baidu last year, which eventually forced the Chinese search engine to delete nearly 3 million potentially infringing works from its online library.

According to Xinhua, the writers in the latest row claim that Apple was too slow in removing the allegedly pirated content when it was notified about the problem.

The group is now waiting for the US firm’s response, the report said, but it is unclear where it filed the claim.

“As an IP holder ourselves, we understand the importance of protecting intellectual property, and when we receive complaints, we respond promptly and appropriately,” Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu said, without elaborating further.

The App Store offers more than 550,000 micro applications to users in 123 countries around the world, including games, business, news, sports, health and fitness and travel uses.

Apple announced earlier this month that downloads from its App store had hit 25 billion, with a person in eastern China grabbing a US$10,000 prize for taking the tally to the landmark level.

This is the latest copyright dispute to hit Apple in China, after Proview Technology — a Chinese computer firm — filed lawsuits against the US giant, claiming that it owns the Chinese rights for the “iPad” name trademark.

Lawyers for the Chinese company say that they are seeking to prevent Apple from shipping the iconic tablet computers into and out of China, and are threatening to sue Apple in the US for US$2 billion.