Chinese calligrapher won lawsuit against Dow Jones

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 09, 2003

Chinese calligrapher won lawsuit against Dow Jones

Guan Dongsheng was a member of the Foreign Affaires Committee under the CPPCC in 1994. A staff member from Bureau of Diplomatic Missions Service called on him one day, saying that he was entrusted by the Beijing Branch of Dow Jones Corporate to invite Mr. Guan to write a calligraphic works for the president of Dow Jones.

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Guan Dongsheng was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee under the CPPCC in 1994. A staff member from Bureau of Diplomatic Missions Service called on him one day, saying that he was entrusted by the Beijing Branch of Dow Jones Corporate to invite Mr. Guan to write a piece of calligraphic works for the president of Dow Jones who was coming for a visit. Mr. Guan readily agreed and wrote a Chinese character "Dao" of profound significance, meaning morality and truth, and wrote "a gentleman should make his fortune in an honorable way" as the inscription for the recipient. However, Dow Jones blotted out the inscription and only keeping the character "Dao" used it widely for commercial purposes since Nov. 1994. After learning that this is a violation of copyright, Mr. Guan resorted to legal action in July in Beijing, asking Dow Jones to suspend the tort and apologize to him and claiming for a compensation of RMB 5 million yuan. On Sep. 22, Beijing NO. 1 Intermediate People's Court pronounced the judgment: as the fact of the tort is very clear, the accused should compensate Guan Dongsheng RMB 400,000 yuan for the economic loss.

Guan Dongsheng: I never write for money

The reporter interviewed Mr. Guan the next day after the judgment. Now, as a member of the Central Committee of China Democratic League and vice director of Cultural Committee under the League, the calligraphic works of Mr. Guan have been presented to foreign leaders, including Japanese Prime minister, US president and president of the ROK, and Mr. Guan himself has consequently become a "specialist of outstanding contributions".

In this case, the controversial focus on both sides is whether or not Guan Dongsheng had permitted Dow Jones to use his works for commercial purposes. According to the latter, the two parties had reached a "verbal agreement" and the calligrapher himself knew that his works was for commercial purposes. But Dow Jones failed to provide convincing evidences. According to Guan Dongsheng, his works have usually been presented as gifts at diplomatic occasions, "I never sell my works in the market and you can't find any of them in shops", said Guan Dongsheng, "what's more, it's my habit that I write freely for foreign friends. I have never thought that my works will be used for commercial purposes."

Guan Dongsheng angered by the insolence of Dow Jones

Guan Dongsheng says that he saw his works printed in some materials of Dow Jones for propagation in the past but didn't know the nature of such activities. Till the end of 2000, a friend of his reminded him that it was a serious violation of copyright that Dow Jones used his works as their trademark.

Guan Dongsheng entrusted his agent to go to US in quest of legal support from 2001. Many American lawyers became very excited when learning of this, and they thought it was a serious case. An American lawyer's office would even like to offer legal services free of charge. Mr. Guan's agent made representations to Dow Jones via American lawyers and when refused Guan Dongsheng decided to bring in a lawsuit against Dow Jones. Under such circumstances, the position of Dow Jones became a little softer and wanted to pay US 40,000 dollars to make a private compromise on condition that Mr. Guan gave up his right of litigation. Mr. Guang said the arrogance and impoliteness of Dow Jones angered him. Then he chose to accuse Dow Jones in Beijing in consideration of the complicated procedures, long time and high cost of the hearing in the US.

Safeguard the interests of China's intellectual property rights

"This case is not for money", said Mr. Guan, " I am safeguarding my own interest and that of China, as well as displaying the image that in China the intellectual property rights are protected. The RMB 5 million yuan that I claimed is only a small amount of money as compared with the same sort of cases in the US. What's more, the tort of Dow Jones has lasted for so long a time and covered a wide range, and so the compensation claim of 5 million yuan is but a meager bit for Dow Jones, a brand-name company with yearly revenue of $2.4 billion dollars. What I really want is not the money, but their acknowledgment of the tort and apology."

Guan Dongsheng and his lawyer made a good preparation for this case. They presented 18 evidences to the court and pointed out sharply the pseudo-evidences of the accused. The course of the hearing is dramatic and Guan won the case because of his sound evidence.

Tang Zaozhi, the lawyer of Mr. Guan, is the first group of lawyers in intellectual property rights, who has engaged himself in this field from 1990 when China's first Copyright Law was published. When interviewed by the reporter, he took this case as one of his masterpieces, partly because few Chinese acted as the plaintiff accusing foreign companies in the foreign-related cases of intellectual property rights and because this case plays an active role of significance to further popularize the consciousness of intellectual property rights and the elementary knowledge of copyright law in China. "In most of the foreign-related cases I met with, Chinese companies were more often than not the accused. Although in some cases Chinese companies accused foreign ones, the numbers concerned were on the smaller side and the two parties often reached compromises, few being the case as suchlike", the lawyer said.

This case also has two points of other significance. First, although many Chinese companies infringe intellectual property rights of foreign companies, this is a fact. However, in the meantime that the rights of some Chinese are inviolable can't be ignored. Secondly, this case has roused the consideration of the whole society on the issue for the protection of intellectual property rights. If the consciousness of protecting intellectual property rights is enhanced the system of judgment and compensation in such cases can be improved. Such being the case the beneficiaries will not only include Mr. Guan but also foreign companies like the Dow Jones in China.

The compensation to be used for setting up the fund for protection of intellectual property rights

Rao Mengzhi, representative of the Dow Jones in China, issued a statement after the indictment, saying that the result is disappointing and Dow Jones will reserve the right to lodge an appeal. However, the indictment made by the court in Beijing only put a check on Dow Jones's violation of the intellectual property rights in China Dow Jones is still doing that in the Asia-Pacific and other areas where overseas Chinese are living and Chinese are spoken and Guan will reserve the right for a further accusation against it in these regions.

As to the compensated money of RMB 400,000 yuan, Guan put it clearly that after paying off the expense in the lawsuit the rest will be donated to set up a fund for the protection of the intellectual property rights.

The article was carried on Global Times, translated by PD Online staff Liu Wei

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