Six major US moviemakers won a lawsuit Friday against a
Shanghai-based company that violated their intellectual property
rights by pirating DVDs of their products.
The Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court ordered Dikai
Audio-Visual Co., Ltd. to pay 158,000 yuan (US$20,000) in
compensation to the companies.
It also has to pay a 50,000-yuan (US$6,400) fine for selling the
pirated DVDs of movies.
Dikai was found selling DVDs of movies made by Paramount,
Columbia, New Line Studios, 20th Century-Fox, Universal City
Studios and Walt Disney Pictures without the authorization of the
companies.
The six US companies asked the company to pay 1.47 million yuan
(US$187,000) in compensation and make a public apology in the
Xinmin Evening, a local daily newspaper with a large
circulation.
The company has made no comment on whether it will appeal the
ruling.
(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2006)