Two leading Chinese publishers are battling each other over a claim of copyright infringement.

Li Shuxi, former director of Guangming Daily Press, sued Huang Shuyuan, the director of People Press, for allegedly copying 85 percent of Li's book. Li is demanding 108,000 yuan from Huang.

Li's lawsuit said he discovered what he called plagiarism when he bought a book, "Detecting Talents," written by Huang in May.

Li said he found that 144,000 characters of the 168,000-character book had been copied from his own book, "Li Shuxi's Comments on Strategy in HR Management." Li's book was published in March 2007.

Huang's representative at the court said Huang's book was based on another work, "A Mirror of National History," which was published in 1993. The publishing house reportedly had an agreement from two of the book's three authors for the new book. Huang's representative claims that Li had copied part of his book from the 1993 book.

But Li said he was the third author of the 1993 book.

The court did not deliver a verdict.

(China Daily 07/06/2009 page9)