back to article Writers' alliance throws the book at Apple 'piracy'

Apple’s legal troubles in China took a turn for the worse at the weekend after it emerged that a group of writers filed a 50 million yuan (£5m) lawsuit alleging that the fruity tech giant is illegally selling unlicensed copies of their books on its App Store. State-run news agency Xinhua reported that the 22 writers, who have …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    in China

    certain rules and regulations have very blurred outlines compared to the rest of the world.

    1. MonkeyBot

      Re: in China

      Many would say the same about Apple. I guess the Jobsian reality distortion field didn't shut down when he did.

      1. Tom 13

        @MonkeyBot

        I would say that given Apples most recent woes, the problem is quite the reverse: it has shutdown (or at least been significantly diminished) allowing more outsiders to see the Emperor's clothes.

    2. Nick Kew

      Re: in China

      I don't know where AC is from, but maybe you should look to the mote in your own eye. The UK leads the world in blurred rules (that's why, among other things, the financial sector thrives so well in London and UK-protected offshore locations).

      China is so maligned in our press that I checked with my publisher when I encountered a chinese edition of my own book. But of course it turned out to be completely legitimate, and appeared on a subsequent royalty statement.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Famous Chinese authors"

    Maybe some background is needed:

    http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2011/12/han-han-finds-a-new-crowd-to-irritate.html

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    Copyright

    Pretty certain it's copyright infringement rather IP theft.

    Where has the case been filed? China or the US?

    Commercial copyright infringement is punishable by the company having to pay a fine then pay back to the legitimate copyright holder unless it knew about about the copyright infringement in the first place and didn't remove the offending content, in which case the court would award damages.

    If this suit was filed in the US, Apple can pull the books from the store, payback whoever owns the copyright the profit on the 30% of each sale and pay a fine.

    Then sue whoever submitted the books to recoup the loss if they care enough.

    That all assumes the case goes against apple, which it may not

    1. masked_freetard
      Headmaster

      Re: Copyright

      > Pretty certain it's copyright infringement rather IP theft.

      Well yes, one would hope so, since copyright infringement is an actual crime whereas IP theft is just made up nonsense.

    2. Eddy Ito
      Facepalm

      Re: Copyright

      "Pretty certain it's copyright infringement rather IP theft."

      Thank you for clearing that up. Here I was thinking copyright was a form of intellectual property.

  4. xyz Silver badge
    Devil

    In other trades...

    ...where someone takes a percentage of earnings from someone else's hard graft, I think it's called being a pimp.

    In other trades where you receive goods that turn out to be stolen and then make money selling them on, isn't that being called a "fence?"

    Just sayin'

    1. Joe 35

      Re: In other trades...

      "In other trades where you receive goods that turn out to be stolen and then make money selling them on, isn't that being called a "fence?""

      Not where you unknowingly did that, no it's not.

      Did you have any other questions?

      1. Citizen Kaned

        Re: In other trades...

        i think you might find that if you sell something that is stolen you can be liable. i might be wrong but i think that is the case.

        anyway, anyone see the irony of Chinese moaning about copyright infringement? :)

    2. dssf
      Devil

      Re: In other trades...

      Well, why not coin a new set of terms:

      Fince

      Gremp

      What happens if a pimp extorts a fence, or a fence manipulates a pimp? How about pimp on pimp or fence on fence?

      And, what of fences and pimps working in government? Or agents using pimps and fences to go after bigger pimps and fences?

      (Sawn of Spaten (Spoonerism))

  5. Spud2go
    Devil

    This is interesting...

    ..coming from a realm where the English phrase "copyright infringement" appears not to translate well into Mandarin.

  6. Jeebus

    It's not fencing when a big multinational does it. What these companies are guilty of is intentional stealing of protected information and profiting off it with 100% knowledge of what they're doing.

    It is a shame Apple, Google, Amazon and others are above the law, but download or host a song and your house will be illegally raided by the FBI.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Apple is the one making copies so they are infringing copyright . The company that licensed the copyright to Apple might be committing fraud by licensing things they don't have the rights to.

      Neither action is theft.

      The companies you name are not above the law. Google has been fined for breaking the law for example.

      The case hasn't been tried, no one has been proven guilty of anything yet.

      1. Oliver Mayes

        @ac

        "Google has been fined for breaking the law for example."

        I'm sure that fine really hit their multi-billion dollar bank account hard. They won't try that again in a hurry.

  7. Lamont Cranston

    Copyright theft?

    Apple? China? This is pure troll-bait!

  8. Bgfreeman

    China complaining about Copyright violation is like politicians complaining about lying.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As usual the Apple cultists refuse to admit that their holy Cupertino gods could possibly do anything wrong.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Megaphone

      It hasn't been proven they've done anything wrong yet

    2. Tom 13

      @Norfolk 'n' Goode: You'll find I'm as quick to bash Apple as I am MS,

      but only when there is cause. Given that Apple are currently being shaken down by a Chinese company with political connections, I'm rather suspicious this case is also the result of political connections.

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