Chinese scriptwriter to pay USD 7.71 lakh in plagiarism case

A scriptwriter in China was ordered by a court here to pay 7.71 lakh compensation to a Taiwan romance novelist in a plagiarism case filed against him for copying the author's work in a TV series.
The Beijing Higher People's Court upheld the first- instance verdict issued in December 2014, ordering scriptwriter Yu Zheng and four companies involved in to pay five million yuan (USD 771,600) to novelist Chiung Yao and said that Yu should also apologise for copying her work.
Chiung Yao claimed that the plot of TV series "The Palace: The Lost Daughter", with Yu Zheng as the scriptwriter, was almost identical to her novel "Mei Hua Lao" (Plum Blossom Scar).

She said the scriptwriter never sought permission to use her work. "The Palace: The Lost Daughter" was aired on Hunan Satellite TV in the mainland in 2014.
She filed a lawsuit to the No 3 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing in April 2014, asking Yu Zheng and four television companies to stop the infringement and compensate her 20 million yuan.
She also demanded Yu make a public apology, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.