More than two years after a lawsuit was launched by a group of volunteers, Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court declared on May 8 that The Princess Weiyoung, a popular online novel written by Zhou Jing, was plagiarized from another online work. The court ordered Zhou, whose pseudonym is Qin Jian, to stop publication of the novel and to pay 136,500 yuan ($20,000) in compensation to Shen Wenwen, the author of the original work, titled Six Emperors' Favorite.At first glance, it appears that Shen alone won the lawsuit. But it was in fact a victory for more than 50 people, including volunteers, lawyers and graphic artists, Shen said after the ruling was announced. Wang Guohua, Shen's lawyer, said it could be the first case in China in which volunteers have helped protect copyrights. "Their participation means the case is not a one-on-one fight to safeguard intellectual property rights. Instead, it's a team effort," he said. Given that The Princess Weiyoung allegedly plagiarized more than 100 online novels involving over 100 authors, the workload involved in collecting evidence was huge, Wang said, adding that the volunteers, most of them fans of online literature, provided great support in the campaign.

Source: China Daily