Shanghai court finds infringement by 'best textbook in China'

Publishers of the "best Chinese textbook in China" have been far from superlative in their attention to intellectual property rights, ruled the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court, and now face a compensation and desist order.

The court ruled on Dec 15 that two Jiangsu-based companies must stop publishing a book they titled This is the Best Chinese Textbook in China and pay Shanghai Translation Publishing House 200,000 yuan ($32,000) in compensation for losses.

Tang Jiafang from the Shanghai publisher's copyright office told local media that the book published by Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing Ltd has nine articles selected from five of their books without authorization.

Four translated works in the unauthorized text include Charlotte's Web and The Trumpet of the Swan, children's novels by American writer E.B. White, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, science fiction books by Douglas Adams from the United Kingdom.

The Jiangsu publisher claimed it tried to contact the writers and translators, but they "were not easy to find", Oriental Morning Post reported.

So they entrusted the China Written Works Copyright Society with royalties for the authors who "were unavailable".

"The copyright society has limited powers," Wu Hong, deputy editor-in-chief from Shanghai Translation, told China Daily. "It only helps find the copyright owners and is unable to authorize use of works unless the copyright owners give it power of agency."

The Jiangsu publisher stated in the anthology that it entrusted royalties of works whose copyright owners were unavailable to the China Written Works Copyright Society and asked the copyright owners to contact the society to get the royalties.

Shanghai Translation did not accept the statement, saying it never gave the copyright society power of agency for the five books, Wu said.

It filed a lawsuit against the Jiangsu publisher, its parent company and the book's distributor in July 2014.

Ye Kai, who compiled the anthology, said it is reasonable to entrust the copyright society with royalties when publishers cannot contact copyright owners, adding that since Shanghai Translation filed the complaint, he and publishers in Jiangsu will pay more attention to copyright issues.

Zhang Ping, a law professor at Peking University, told China Daily that the copyright society has the power of agency only if the author is a member or agrees to publication, so the Jiangsu publishers infringed on the copyright although it entrusted royalties to the society with good will.

The publisher in Jiangsu told Oriental Morning Post on Dec 30 that it was considering an appeal to a higher court.

"The lawsuit can be regarded as a representative case for the publishing industry, and publishers will know what they can do and cannot do," Wu said.

He said many publishers in China now give royalties to China Written Works Copyright Society and then publish works whether the society has authorization from copyright owners of the works or not.

Ye compiled the book two years ago because he was unsatisfied with current Chinese education and textbooks.

He found that modern literature in current Chinese textbooks "is full of moralization and may mislead students".

The disputed book used essays by many writers across the world that have "nourishment and humanity" and are "insightful and appealing", said Ye.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn