Apple has been hit with a fine in China after it was determined they illegally distributed copyrighted material via their online book store. It represents another case in a long line of legal cases brought against the company in the last few months.
China Daily reports that the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled that Apple showed negligence in ensuring content uploaded to its 'iBookstore' was owned by the publishers.
The company were fined a total of 730,000 yuan ($118,000) for 'irresponsible verification policies'.
Judge Feng Gang said in his ruling:
The writers involved this time include Mai Jia, whose books are often on bestseller lists across the country.
Gang went on to add:
In this way, Apple has the capability to know the uploaded books on its online store violated the writers' copyright.
The judge also added that owners of other online eBook stores should take precautions to ensure copyrighted material is not uploaded without explicit permission from the content owners, or else they could face similar penalties from the country's judicial system.
Wang Guohua, the lawyer representing the claimants, told China Daily that he was satisfied with the results and that the compensation received was higher than in most copyright infringement cases.
Apple's attorney refused to make any comment on the case.
Source: China Daily via ZDNet | Image via Digital Trends
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