A group of Chinese writers who accuse Apple's online store for selling pirated copies of their books is seeking $8 million in compensation from the US firm, state media said Sunday. The group has filed the 50 million yuan claim against Apple on behalf of 22 writers including famed author Han Han, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The group alleges the US giant's App Store has been selling unlicensed copies of some 95 books. Han Han was also one of over 40 authors involved in a copyright row with Baidu last year that eventually forced the Chinese search engine to delete nearly three million potentially infringing works from its online library.
According to Xinhua, the writers in the latest row claim that Apple was too slow in removing the allegedly pirated content when it was notified about the problem. The group is now waiting for the US firm's response, the report said, but it is unclear where it filed the claim.
"As an IP holder ourselves, we understand the importance of protecting intellectual property and when we receive complaints, we respond promptly and appropriately," Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu told AFP, without elaborating further.
The App Store offers more than 550,000 micro-applications to users in 123 countries around the world, including games, business, news, sports, health and fitness, and travel uses.