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Chinese authors to petition Apple to halt book downloads

by Michael Grothaus Jul 8th 2011 at 4:00AM

A group of Chinese authors is petitioning Apple to halt the distribution of their books through multiple apps in the App Store, according to the 21st Century Herald Tribune (as reported by Reuters). The authors are part of a group called the Writers Rights Alliance, and this isn't the first time the Alliance has gone after a technology company for offering its books for download without consent. The group previously petitioned China's largest search engine, Baidu, to cease the publication of its books in the Baidu Library (similar to Google Books).

However, a spokesperson for the Writers Rights Alliance said Apple's allowance of apps on the App Store is a graver situation. The Baidu Library offered Alliance books downloads for free, but some of the apps in the App Store make a profit through sales of the app or in-app purchases. From the Writers Rights Alliance's perspective, Apple is infringing on the Alliance's intellectual property by taking its 30 percent commission on sales of the authors' works. Apple has not yet publicly commented on the matter.



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A group of Chinese authors is petitioning Apple to halt the distribution of their books through multiple apps in the App Store,...
 

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Poach

Hmm.. Chinese upset at the infringement of intellectual property... that a little ironic. Maybe the first step should be to have their government support and uphold copyright and IP laws.

July 08 2011 at 7:53 AM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Poach's comment
Chris Giddings

Their country turns a blind eye to infringement of IP owned by people and companies outside China. But they're prototypically harsh when it comes to pursuing their own constituent and corporate interests.

Trust that if Apple doesn't comply quickly, that their discussions with a number of Chinese firms will begin to include questions about this very topic more and more frequently until it's resolved.

July 08 2011 at 9:12 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
kgro

So, you are not happy with the IP legislations in China, therefore it is ok to infinge the copyrights of the authors by Apple, an American company, the country that takes pride in protecting IP. Excellent logic.

July 09 2011 at 3:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to kgro's comment
Stephan

mm I may have understood your sentence wrong but as far as how i understood, you are kinda blaming apple and it's not aplpe's fault.
whoever wrote the app that sells the owner of copyright's material infringed the material. I think App store guideline clearly dictates that an app should not include any material that infringes the copyrighted material and all and thats why those chinese writers are asking apple to take those apps down.

hmm i am not sure about writers' claim about how apple is responsible for the infringement since apple takes 30% cut for the in-app purchases.. but i think those app developers should be prosecuted..

July 09 2011 at 11:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down
Ladi Williams

Obviously the Chinese writers need to flush out those individuals in their country who have misrepresented themselves as the owners of their IP to Apple, but like these dubious people, they reckon it's far easier to shake down the richer cash source than to cut out the fraud at source by putting their house in order.

July 08 2011 at 5:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Adrian von Gegerfelt

FU China!

July 08 2011 at 4:57 AM Report abuse -5 rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Adrian von Gegerfelt's comment
guoxin

What for? Just because they are Chinese, they don't deserve the right to protect their work?

July 08 2011 at 5:50 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to guoxin's comment
Don Jones

Essentially. Because their country and culture don't give a rat's ass when they violate other people's rights. Every IT book I've ever written has been dutifully pirated first by the Chinese, then by the Russians, and then made available to the world on some torrent. Try to issue a take-down to a Chinese site, and they ignore you. So why should they get to issue take-downs to anyone else? If their culture and government can't work to protect everyone's rights, they've got no room to bitch if people don't respect theirs. Pot, meet kettle. Sorry, I acknowledge that my attitude is probably insensitive, but their people haven't done much to create sympathy for this particular situation. I'd rather see their little "alliance" spend time policing inside their borders - I'd have respect for them, then, even if they were completely ineffective. At least they'd be trying.

July 08 2011 at 11:52 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down
kgro

**** you, you rasist *******, Adrian von Gegerfelt.

July 09 2011 at 3:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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