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'Super Girls' producer accused of IPR infringement
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-21 16:24
A Chinese intellectual property right group planned to sue producer of "Super
Girls," an "American Idol"-type television pop star contest, which made a
phenomenon in China's TV audience rating in summer.
"Contestants in the commercial TV program chose a large number of famous
Chinese and English songs without applying for the rights to use them," said Ma
Jichao, director of the Legal Department of the Chinese Association of Music
Intellectual Property Rights.
![The top three super girls (L to R), Li Yuchun, Zhang Liangying and Zhou Bichang, stand after a night competition on August 19, 2005. [sina.com]](xin_39080226090732811091.jpg)
The top three super
girls (L to R), Li Yuchun, Zhang Liangying and Zhou Bichang, stand after a
night competition on August 19, 2005.
[sina.com] |
Ma said that Tianyu Entertainment
Media Co., producer of the contest used the songs for commercial purpose.
Winners from the contest are still using the songs on a nationwide promotion
tour, which seriously infringed the copyrights of the songs.
Ma said that his association would lodge a law suit against the "Super Girls"
producer and claim for a 500,000-yuan (62,500 US dollars) compensation, if the
company made no further response within this month.
Some 200 million people tuned in to Hunan Satellite Television, with
headquarters in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, for the
live, three-hour finale of "Super Girls 2005" in August, which ended with Li
Yuchun, 21, being named champion of the contest after having garnered over 3.52
million votes.
The contest, which began half a year ago, with the participation of 150,000
women above the age of 16 from across the country. It has become talk of the
town.
Ma said that his association sent a letter to urge the company to pay for the
use of copyright in September 20, and sat down for negotiations with the company
till October 9 without reaching any agreement.
Ma told the media that a "Super Girls" evening show was staged in October 9
in Beijing. Most of the Chinese songs sung at the show infringed the copyright
managed by the association, and the English songs infringed the copyright in
concerned copyright organizations in China's Hong Kong, Taiwan and some European
and American countries, which have signed exchange management agreements with
their Chinese counterpart.
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