The China Written Works Copyright Society has backed authors' bid for stronger protection of their legal rights. The society also called on China's copyright authorities to investigate abuses and stamp out rampant online infringement. 

The China Written Works Copyright Society is the country's only organization for managing writers' copyrights. It has fully supported writers' call for beefed-up copyright protection.

Zhang Hongbo, deputy director-general of CWWCS said, "Companies such as the Union of Writers for Rights Protection might find themselves in a dilemma under the current intellectual property rights protection system. We appreciate the initiative to protect copyright, as long as it operates legally."

It is not the first copyright dispute the company has faced. It conducted rounds of negotiations with Google in 2009. 

Google was accused of scanning and posting copyrighted works of a number of Chinese writers to its digital library.

After rounds of negotiations, Google submitted a complete list of Chinese books it scanned for its digital library and apologized to Chinese writers. 

Zhang said, "We hope authorities, such as copyrights management department, will investigate suspected copyright violations, especially when many writers are involved."

But Zhang is less optimistic about the outcome. 

It often takes at least half a year to file an international lawsuit. An initial capital of three million yuan is also needed, which deters many writers from defending their copyright. 

Chinese writer Murong Xuecun said, "It is good if the court awards compensation to us, but if no compensation is ruled, we hope the violation can be stopped. That would also be a victory. Chinese Internet lacks sense of IPR protection, I hope our lawsuit marks a beginning, so more people will move to protect IPR."

Statistics from the Publishing Research Institute of China show that the output value of the country's digital press in 2010 exceeded 100 billion yuan, marking an increase of about 50 percent annually over the past five years. 

It also found there are over half a million websites providing unauthorized literature works.

The State Council has responded to the situation by putting amendment of the Copyright Law on this year's legislation agenda.

(Source:CNTV.CN)