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Chinese author sues Google over web library

BEIJING, Dec 29: Chinese author Mian Mian, known for her lurid tales of the underworld, on Tuesday launched the country’s first civil lawsuit against Internet giant Google over its digital web library, her lawyer said.

Mian Mian, 39, alleges that Google is guilty of copyright infringement for scanning her third novel “Acid Lovers” into its controversial system without her permission. She is seeking 61,000 yuan ($8,900) in damages.

Her lawyer, Sun Jingwei, said that the case had opened on Tuesday with attorneys from both sides handing over evidence to the Beijing court.

“The hearing lasted for two hours,” Sun said, adding: “Right now it is not convenient to discuss the details of the case.” Sun has said the key part of the trial was not likely to begin until around March.

Mian Mian first shot to fame in 2000 with her novel “Candy” — a story about prostitutes, gangsters and artists in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, just over the border from Hong Kong.

Her books have been translated into many languages but are largely banned in China, although they were widely available on the black market in the years following the publication of “Candy”.

According to the China Written Works Copyright Society, tens of thousands of books by hundreds of Chinese authors have been added to Google Books, the US Internet giant’s project to digitise millions of books and post them online.

The society is currently in talks with Google to try to resolve the outstanding copyright issues, and agree terms for compensation, but so far, the Chinese writers have refused the offers made by the US firm.

The Google Books project has also raised objections from authors and publishers in the United States, France, Germany and other countries.

Google reached a settlement with US authors and publishers last year over a copyright infringement suit filed in 2005.

Under the deal, Google agreed to pay $125 million to resolve pending claims and establish an independent unit to provide revenue from sales and advertising to authors and publishers who agree to digitise their books.

A US judge has scheduled a hearing for Feb 18 on the revised settlement.— AFP Earlier this month, a French court told Google that it cannot digitise French books without publishers’ approval and ordered the online giant to pay 300,000 euros ($430,000) in damages.—AFP

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