Dow Jones to pay calligrapher

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 19, 2004

Dow Jones to pay calligrapher

A Beijing court Monday ruled Dow Jones should pay 405,684 yuan (US$49,000) in compensation to a Chinese calligrapher for copyright infringement.

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A Beijing court Monday ruled Dow Jones should pay 405,684 yuan (US$49,000) in compensation to a Chinese calligrapher for copyright infringement.

According to the judgment by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, Guan Dongsheng, a professor at the Central University of Nationalities gave a calligraphy of the Chinese character "Dao," the first character of Dow Jones' Chinese translation, to the U.S. company's chief executive officer as a gift in 1994.

Late that year, without permission from Guan, the multinational giant began using the calligraphy as Dow Jones' corporate symbol on its Web site, advertisements and business cards.

According to Copyright Law, Dow Jones did not acquire the copyright of the calligraphy even though it was presented with the original version of the handwriting, said sources with the court.

Guan said he was also preparing to sue Dow Jones for unauthorized commercial use of his calligraphy in countries and regions outside China's mainland, including the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan.

Sources with Dow Jones' Beijing office declined to comment on the judgment, and Li Qing, a lawyer representing Dow Jones, said the company was still deciding whether to appeal to a higher court.

Guan said he would donate what was left of the compensation after legal fees to intellectual property rights protection organizations.

Dow Jones last year offered Guan US$10,000 to settle out of court, but he refused.

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies

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