AppleInsider Staff
The group of writers, who filed the revised claim in Beijing's Second Intermediate People's Court on Wednesday under the name China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS), allege that unlicensed copies of their books have been repurposed as apps and are being sold through Apple's App Store, reports Macworld.
CWWCS is now asking for 23 million yuan ($3.65 million), or nearly double the 11.9 million yuan ($1.89 million) in damages that was first sought as part of the original complaint. The inflation of damages stems in part from new evidence that an additional 26 infringing products had been added to the App Store following the initial lawsuit.
In a January hearing, CWWCS claimed that when the Cupertino, Calif., company was notified about the pirated content, it was slow to remove the offending products and in some cases refused to delete the content altogether. The group said that Apple has known about the problem since July, 2011.
Executive for CWWCS, Bei Zhicheng, said that Apple allegedly allowed the sale of 59 unauthorized apps which featured content produced by the nine members. He claims that the iPad maker told the authors to contact the pirate developers and resolve the issue on their own.
Author Murong Xuecun, left, and CWWCS Executive Bei Zhicheng. | Source: The Asahi Shimbun
Just as it does with all iTunes sales, Apple takes a 30 percent cut from each App Store purchase, and the company recently announced over $4 billion has been paid out to app developers as of the first quarter of 2012.
In total, CWWCS estimates the infringing apps have been downloaded over one million times.
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In total, CWWCS estimates the infringing apps have been downloaded over one million times.
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It wasn't me, I swear.
unlicensed copies of their books have been repurposed as apps and are being sold through Apple's App Store, reports Macworld.
If Apple were forced to be certain that the products it sells are not illegal, it might lower their profits.
Chinese authors claim damages from Apple over alleged copyright violations? The irony of this situation seems to escape them.
Have these authors; 1) Gone after the people/companies that submitted the apps to the store? 2) Has it been decided in court that the apps are stolen or copies of their works?
Chinese authors double demands in Apple copyright suit
In a revision to a December filing, nine Chinese writers claiming that Apple has been selling pirated versions of their work on its App Store nearly doubled the amount they are demanding from the company, and now seek a compensatory payout of over $3.6 million.
The group of writers, who filed the revised claim in Beijing's Second Intermediate People's Court on Wednesday under the name China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS), allege that unlicensed copies of their books have been repurposed as apps and are being sold through Apple's App Store, reports Macworld.
CWWCS is now asking for 23 million yuan ($3.65 million), or nearly double the 11.9 million yuan ($1.89 million) in damages that was first sought as part of the original complaint. The inflation of damages stems in part from new evidence that an additional 26 infringing products had been added to the App Store following the initial lawsuit.
In a January hearing, CWWCS claimed that when the Cupertino, Calif., company was notified about the pirated content, it was slow to remove the offending products and in some cases refused to delete the content altogether. The group said that Apple has known about the problem since July, 2011.
Executive for CWWCS, Bei Zhicheng, said that Apple allegedly allowed the sale of 59 unauthorized apps which featured content produced by the nine members. He claims that the iPad maker told the authors to contact the pirate developers and resolve the issue on their own.
Author Murong Xuecun, left, and CWWCS Executive Bei Zhicheng. | Source: The Asahi ShimbunIn total, CWWCS estimates the infringing apps have been downloaded over one million times.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
But I guess I cannot blame them for trying to get rich!
But how in the he77 did they come up with over 3million bucks?
They "estimated" that the app were downloaded up to 1 million times... Which translates to "THEY DONT HAVE A CLUE" how many times it was downloaded...
And how do they determine that over 3 million bucks worth od content was pirated?
And how do they figure Apple is responsible? What if these were not downloaded in china?
Geez so many people hoping Apple will just pay out instead of fighting... but they are wrong! This one is a bust!!!