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Personal Website Owner Fined for Piracy
A graduate student has been fined for publishing material on his personal website without consent from the copyright holder, according to a decree given Tuesday by the Beijing Second People's Intermediate Court.
Li Xiang, a graduate student from Tianjin-based Nankai University, was accused of uploading to his personal website some material copied from a periodical titled "College Student". The material mainly deals with how to prepare for the national graduate examination.
Li applied over one year ago for a free digital space on www.263.net, a leading Internet service provider (ISP) in China. In the space, Li created a personal website focusing on offering guidance to test-takers. The content is open to all viewers.
This is the fist case of its kind concerning plagiarism on personal websites.
According to the court's judgment, Li has to pay compensation of 5,000 yuan (US$605) to the periodical and publish an apology message on the front page of the personal website channel on www.263.net.
According to the court's verdict, the operator of www.263.net is not responsible for Li's wrong-doing because an ISP has no obligation to control the materials published on his website, other than materials which are prohibited by laws.
The operator discontinued Li's personal website immediately after being notified by the periodical. Li erased all of the copied material on his website early this year.
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