Apple to Pay over $82K to Chinese Encyclopedia Publisher over App Store Piracy

[Akshay Masand]

A Chinese court recently ruled in favor of the venerable Encyclopedia of China Publishing House in its suit against Apple, which asserted that the Cupertino California company was liable for the sale of unauthorized digital copies of its encyclopedia found on the App Store. In this court case, the publisher originally asked for RMB 530,000 which is equivalent to $84,200, however the final judgment handed down on Thursday by Beijing’s Second Intermediate People’s Court came out to a slightly less RMB 520,000 which is equivalent to $82,600 for the publishing house according to the Beijing Times.

The suit, originally filed in 2010 claimed apps being sold through Apple’s App store contained pirated versions of the copy-written encyclopedia. In its defense, Apple argued that it had no involvement in the development of third-party apps but the court ruled that the company was responsible as it not only approved the app’s sale but also profited from it. According to an Apple representative:

The App Store offers customers in China access to an incredible selection of over 700,000 apps created by Apple’s developer community. As an IP holder ourselves, Apple understands the importance of protecting intellectual property and when we receive complaints, as we did in this case, we respond promptly and appropriately.

This specific case has been taken care of but it is likely that Apple will be a bit stricter when it comes to the app approval process in the future as to avoid situations like this one from happening again.

Source: Beijing Times via Google Translate, The Next Web

[Jahooba]

Apple takes 30% of each app sold, so $82,000 is equal to roughly 240,000 ninety-nine cent app sales. Apple probably sells that many apps per hour.

[FORTISSIMO]

Lol pocket lint

[Mrteacup]

Apple takes 30% of each app sold, so $82,000 is equal to roughly 240,000 ninety-nine cent app sales. Apple probably sells that many apps per hour.

... Uh no.

[*T*]

... Uh no.

The actual number is way higher than that per hour.... Don't even try to disagree

[docmagoo2]

A Chinese court recently ruled in favor of the venerable Encyclopedia of China Publishing House in its suit against Apple, which asserted that the Cupertino California company was liable for the sale of unauthorized digital copies of its encyclopedia found on the App Store. In this court case, the publisher originally asked for RMB 530,000 which is equivalent to $84,200, however the final judgment handed down on Thursday by Beijing’s Second Intermediate People’s Court came out to a slightly less RMB 520,000 which is equivalent to $82,600 for the publishing house according to the Beijing Times.

The suit, originally filed in 2010 claimed apps being sold through Apple’s App store contained pirated versions of the copy-written encyclopedia. In its defense, Apple argued that it had no involvement in the development of third-party apps but the court ruled that the company was responsible as it not only approved the app’s sale but also profited from it. According to an Apple representative:



This specific case has been taken care of but it is likely that Apple will be a bit stricter when it comes to the app approval process in the future as to avoid situations like this one from happening again.

Source: Beijing Times via Google Translate, The Next Web

Imagine a Chinese court ruling in favour of a Chinese company...

[bigray]

$1 billion - $82k = 1 less roll of expensive toilet paper lol