Artists call for copyright

By Xu Fang  |   2008-6-20  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THE Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court has accepted five copyright lawsuits in which four famous artists accused China Telecom and China Mobile of printing their drawings on IP cards without permission.

The four artists are Liu Danzhai, Dai Dunbang, Ye Xiong and Yu Jigao.

They each requested 40,000 yuan (US$5,816) in compensation. A retailer surnamed Gao who sold the IP cards was required to compensate 10,000 yuan to each for copyright infringement.

So far the court has handled 16 similar copyright cases.

Gun stash flushed out

Li Hui, a 37-year-old Shanghai native, was sentenced by the Jing'an District People's Court yesterday to one year in prison for illegal possession of firearms.

Li, who was caught with a gun and four bullets, was detained by the police on April 1 when he was found indulging in drugs with a group of friends at an inn.

Afraid of being caught with the gun and ammunition, Li tried to hide them in the bathroom at the police station.

When the gun and bullets were discovered by a cleaner, Li surrendered to police.

Embezzler jailed

XIA Jinguo, board chairman of Shanghai Changqiao Country Villa Cemetery, has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for embezzlement and accepting bribes.

From 2005 to May 2007, Xia, 42, accepted bribes of 112,500 yuan from two company managers in return for offering cemetery construction projects.

Xia also lent 1 million yuan of public money from the state-owned cemetery to a company manager surnamed Lian as added registered capital. The money was later returned.