A dispute over the copyright of the novel "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", whose film adaptation in 2000 became China's first Oscar-winner film, has been settled, the China Reading Weekly recently reported.

The verdict requires the defendant, Hubei People's Publishing House, which was sued for publishing novels obviously plagiarizing Chinese novelist Wang Dulu's work Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, to pay 100,000 yuan in compensation to Wang's family and to provide a written apology.

The tiger-dragon novel was originally written by Wang Dulu in the 1940s and was published in China's mainland and Hong Kong. After the Oscar-winner film based on the book became popular throughout the Chinese-speaking world, the novels of Wang, who died years ago, again became best-sellers.

Hubei Publishing House in August 2000 published a series of four books by Nie Yunlan which plagiarized Wang's novels in setting, plot and characters. The publishers also attempted to mislead readers into believing that the Oscar-winner film was based on Nie's novels.

Wang's family began litigation against the publishing house in April 2001 after their attempts to stop publication of the plagiarized version failed.

Beijing Haidian District People's Court ruled on September 17, 2001 that the publishing house compensate Wang's family and stop all tortious activities.

The publishing house and Wang's family reached an agreement concerning specific compensation and the terms of apology.

The publishing house suggested that Nie Yunlan, writer of the false versions who published the novels in two Chinese literature periodicals before they were published by Hubei People's Publishing House, also be accused of plagiarism.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2002)