A Beijing court on Monday ruled Dow Jones should pay 405,684 yuan (US$49,000) in compensation to a Chinese calligrapher for copyright infringement.

According to the judgment by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, Guan Dongsheng, a professor at the Central University of the Nationalities, gave a calligraphic rendering of the Chinese character "dao," the first character of Dow Jones' Chinese translation, to the US company's chief executive officer as a gift in 1994.

Late that year, without permission from Guan, the multinational giant began using the image as Dow Jones' corporate symbol on its website, advertisements and business cards.

According to the Copyright Law, Dow Jones did not acquire the copyright to the image even though it was given the original as a gift, said sources with the court.

Guan said he was also preparing to sue Dow Jones for unauthorized commercial use of his calligraphy outside China's mainland, including the United States, Singapore, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan.

Dow Jones' Beijing office declined to comment on the judgment, and Li Qing, a lawyer representing the company, said it was still deciding whether to appeal to a higher court.

Guan said he would donate what was left of the compensation after legal fees to intellectual property rights protection organizations.

Dow Jones last year offered Guan US$10,000 to settle out of court, but he refused.

(Shenzhen Daily February 20, 2004)