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중국 법원 "애플, 중국 작가 저작권 침해 배상해야"

Dec. 28, 2012 - 16:23 By 박한나

앱 스토어 판매관련 작가 8명 등에 1억7천만원 주도록 판결

중국 법원이 애플사가 중국 작가 8명과 회사 2곳의 저작권을 침해했다며 이들에게 103만 위안(약 1억7천만원)을 배상하라고 27일(현지시간) 판결했다.

베이징 제2 인민법원은 이날 애플이 자사 애플리케이션 상점인 '앱 스토어'에 원고의 허락없이 이들의 작품이 포함된 앱의 판매를 허용해 저작권을 침해했다는 판 결을 내렸다고 중국 사법 관계자가 밝혔다.

작가들은 애초 1천200만 위안의 배상을 요구했다.

애플의 중국 측 대변인인 캐럴린 우는 "저작권 침해 소송을 심각하게 받아들이고 있다"고 발표했지만 항소 여부는 언급하지 않았다.

애플은 앱 개발자에게 앱 스토어에 등록된 앱에 저작권을 침해하는 내용이 있는 지 확인을 요구하고 있다.

대변인은 "애플은 언제나 콘텐츠 소유주의 저작권을 보호하기 위해 서비스를 갱 신한다"고 덧붙였다.

지난해 원고들은 애플이 사전 허가 없이 자신의 저작물을 앱 스토어에 올렸다며 집단 소송을 추진했다.

지난 달 중국 법원은 애플이 중국대백과전서 출판사의 판권을 침해했다며 52만 위안을 배상하라고 판결했으며, 애플은 이에 항소했다.

 

<영문 기사>

China court orders Apple to pay in rights dispute

A Chinese court has ordered Apple Inc. to pay 1.03 million yuan ($165,000) to eight Chinese writers and two companies who say unlicensed copies of their work were distributed through Apple's online store.

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled Thursday that Apple violated the writers' copyrights by allowing applications containing their work to be distributed through its App Store, according to an official who answered the phone at the court and said he was the judge in the case. He refused to give his name, as is common among Chinese officials.

The award was less than the 12 million yuan ($1.9 million) sought by the authors. The case grouped together eight lawsuits filed by them and their publishers.

An Apple spokeswoman, Carolyn Wu, said the company's managers “take copyright infringement complaints very seriously.” She declined to say whether the company would appeal.

Unlicensed copying of books, music, software and other products is widespread in China despite repeated government promises to stamp out violations.

Apple's agreement with application developers requires them to confirm they have obtained rights to material distributed through the company's App Store.

“We're always updating our service to better assist content owners in protecting their rights,” Wu said.

The Chinese writers said they saw applications containing unlicensed versions of their books last year.

In November, a court ordered Apple to pay 520,000 yuan ($84,000) to the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House for copyright infringement in a separate case. Apple is appealing, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

In the latest case, the Beijing court awarded 605,000 yuan ($97,500) to one company and 21,500 yuan ($3,450) to the second, according to the court official.

The biggest individual judgment went to writer Han Ailian, who was awarded 186,000 yuan ($30,000).