Apple Ordered to Pay $82,500 for Mobile App Copyright Infringement

Apple has been ordered to pay US$82,500 in compensation to a Chinese publisher after a court found the company guilty of copyright infringement.

The Encyclopedia of China Publishing House sued after it claimed that Apple was distributing unauthorized portions of its Encyclopedia of China through its iTunes mobile apps store.

The claim was that an entire copy of Chinese History’s third volume from the Encyclopedia of China’s first edition was included in the application available at App Store, priced at $20.99.

Apple argued that as it had not written the App, and then it could not be held responsible for the infringement, however as Apple had actively checked the app prior to approving its release on the App Store, the company was found guilty of copyright infringement.

Wang Qian, professor from Shanghai’s East China University of Political Science and Law Intellectual Property Institute, said “Apple is like video website such as YouTube in this case — the website has the obligation to delete video that involves infringement even it was uploaded by a web user.”