China's state media regulator has dealt a blow to Apple Inc by suing the Cupertino tech giant for breaching the broadcast rights of a film made by it. This is the third blow for the tech firm in the company's largest market outside the United States.
First, Chinese regulators banned Apple's services like iTune Movies and iBook Store, which was followed by a little-know Shenzhen-based device maker Baili challenging the American firm's iPhone patent. Consequently, the Beijing Intellectual Property Office directed the company to stop the sale of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Beijing.
Last week, the Movie Satellite Channel Program Production Centre, a movie-production unit of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), sued Apple for broadcasting an anti-Japanese war film, "Xuebo dixiao," in 1994 infringing the exclusive online broadcast rights held by the Centre.
In its lawsuit against the Cupertino tech giant, the Centre, a SARFT subsidiary, has claimed it owns exclusive online rights to the film, and the broadcast of the film by Apple has caused "huge economic losses" to it. The film was not directly broadcast by Apple, but via Youku HD, an app available in the App Store, CNet reported.
The Centre has sued both Apple and Heyi Information and Technology, the parent company of Youku. The Centre has demanded that the film be taken down and the two accused companies pay 50,000 yuan ($7,500) as damages.
Meanwhile, it is unlikely that the SARFT case in itself will have any impact on the running of the app store in China, Beijing Foreign Studies University professor, Cong Lixian told Forbes. According to Lixian whether or not Apple will be held responsible partially depends on whether the tech giant has signed any revenue-sharing agreements with Youku.
A professor of investment at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, Jeffery Towson told the same publication during an interview that the entire issue appears to be strange, The film in question is not only two decades old, but also very few people have actually heard of it, he added.
According to Towson, what makes it more bizarre is that the financial request is under $10,000. He told the media outlet, "Maybe the recent rulings against Apple haven given people confidence to go after the company?"
Apple faced a similar situation in 2011 when the company was directed to pay 520,000 yuan ($78,023) as total damages to the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House. The order came after a Beijing court ruled that apps in Apple online store infringed the copyright of the books of the publishing house.
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