Apple to appeal Chinese court ruling over pirated encyclopedia apps

Back in September, Apple lost a lawsuit brought by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House. The publisher had found a pirated copy of its work on the App Store. Apple argued that it was just "running the store" and wasn't actually doing the pirating, but the court found Apple guilty since it had profited from the sales. The result was a RMB 520,000 ($84,000) award to the publisher.

While that amount seems like a mere pittance compared to Apple's pile of cash, the company feels that the ruling could set precedent and expose Apple to other lawsuits from parties who feel like their intellectual property has been infringed upon on the App Store.

As such, Apple is appealing the court judgement. A report in the Jinghua Times notes that the company is expected to use the same reasoning in the appeal -- that it was just the store operator -- that it did in the lower court.

[via The Next Web]