A Beijing court ordered yesterday that Apple pay 1.03 million yuan to a group of local writers who claim that the U.S. company sold copies of their books online without the proper license.
According to state news agency Xinhua, the Intermediate People’s Court No. 2 Beijing ordered Apple to pay this money to eight writers and two companies for violating their intellectual property rights.
In a statement, Apple said that its employees “take complaints of copyright infringement very seriously” and said they are receptive to complaints made by Chinese writers. “We’re always updating our services to better assist content owners to protected their rights,” the company said.
This is the second decision against Apple in China in four months.The company is appealing a decision by the same court that ordered the payment of 520 thousand yuan to the editor of a Chinese encyclopedia for copyright infringement.
China has become a significant market for Apple. In the fiscal quarter ended September, the company’s sales in the country totaled $ 5.7 billion, almost 16% of Apple’s global sales.