A writer and dress designer faces obstacles in having unlicensed copies of his books removed from the country's largest online retailer Taobao.com, where copies of the books he worked on for 11 years are sold for 2 yuan (about 32 U.S. cents) each.

Xiong Shuping, 47, has been dedicated to writing books on professional dress design since 2002, when he resigned from his post as a professor at Jiangxi Institute of Fashion Technology in east China's Jiangxi Province.

Nine volumes of the series named "World's Classic Costume Design and Pattern" were published in succession by Jiangxi Fine Art Publishing House since Dec. 2007, and the series has been well-received by the fashion circle. The entire series is sold for 384 yuan (about 60 U.S. dollars), and each volume costs nearly 50 yuan.

However, the once-booming sales took a dramatic tumble in March. The downturn puzzled Xiong until one of his readers told him that electronic editions of the series were being sold by over 200 Taobao shops for just 1 or 2 yuan.

Many readers also share the online copies for free across many social media forums.

Xiong's demand to have the online copies deleted met with a refusal from Taobao, which said that such a request is only applicable if a lawsuit is filed.

"My dream to finish the rest of the writing has been shattered by the decreased sales volume since Taobao began publishing them online and offering them as nearly free downloads," said Xiong, who invested more than 500,000 yuan to publish the books and had planned to live off of his book earnings.

"Any platform for uploading or downloading materials without the authors' prior approval is deemed an alleged infringement," said Chen Naiwei, vice director of the Center for Intellectual Property Study in Shanghai-based Fudan University.

According to the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, authors have the right to apply to have relevant infringement acts cease before initiating charges. However, Xiong was told the clause was "inoperable" by the Yuhang District Court in the city of Hangzhou, capital of eastern China's Zhejiang Province, where Taobao is based.

When asked why Xiong's books could be sold in their online shops without prior approval, a staff member with Taobao's legal department surnamed Li told Xinhua via phone that the issue extends beyond the scope of her professional capacity.

"We make it clear that e-books are not allowed to be sold in our company's online shops," said Li Yun, a member of Taobao's public relations department.

"We have strict supervisory procedures for managing online stores, and Taobao can't figure out whether a book is suspected of copyright infringement unless the author complains," said Li, adding that she does not know how e-books like Xiong's hit online shelves.

This is not the first time that online copyright protection has come into spotlight in China. In January, a group of writers filed a claim against Apple, alleging that the company's App Store sells unlicensed copies of their books. The authors are seeking 50 million yuan in compensation.

In March, Han Han, a popular young Chinese writer, accused search engine Baidu of "stealing" three of his works by publishing them online and offering them as free downloads as part of its Wenku literary database.

Verdicts have not yet been reached in either case.

Wu Hongping, a lawyer with Jiangxi Zhonghui Law Firm, said online copyright violation cases are largely driven by profits, because unlicensed reproductions can be easily sold online without any approval procedures and sellers rarely face punishment.

"People's limited awareness of intellectual property protection and their preference for cheap and affordable items have also given rise to such cases, as nationwide business integrity has not yet come into being," Wu said.

Statistics released by the China Internet Network Information Center show that Taobao currently has more than 6 million professional shopkeepers, and nearly 10,000 new shops are registered and 10,000 shops shut down each day.

Professor Zhu Guohua with the Intellectual Property Institute of Shanghai-based Tongji University said many regulations from the Copyright Law have lagged behind requirements for dealing with online communication- and e-book-related cases.

Experts believe that a mature business model taking the interests of authors, readers and websites into account also needs to be built.

"Relevant governmental departments should advocate taking a clear-cut stand against infringement and accelerate revising and perfecting laws related to intellectual property in order to keep pace with technological innovations." Zhu said.

(Source: Xinhua)