Eight Internet cafes in Shanghai and a television serial provider were on Tuesday ordered to pay 65,000 yuan (US$9,286) to a Beijing company for violating its copyright of Hong Kong television shows.

Beijing Netmovie Co Ltd said it had been exclusively authorized by the Hong Kong Television Broadcast Co Ltd to broadcast some Hong Kong television shows on the Internet on the Chinese mainland.

Last July the company found some net bars offering the television shows without permission. The company filed a lawsuit to the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, asking that its copyright be enforced.

Some of the net cafes, such as the Qiang Ming Net Cafe and the Zhi Ye Net Cafe, argued in court that they had signed an agreement with Shanghai Kuanyu Digital Technology Co Ltd which controlled the servers in the net bars and offered the television shows.

As a result Kuanyu was added to the list of defendants.

Kuanyu admitted that it had signed agreements with two net bars to provide one of the television shows without authorization. The other television show involved in the case had been downloaded illegally by the net cafes, the court heard.

The court ruled that the defendants had obviously violated Netmovie's copyright.

The court has handled some 20 cases where net cafes have been accused of screening unauthorized films and television shows. It has written to the net cafe association, suggesting net cafes respect the intellectual property rights of films and television series.

(Shanghai Daily April 16,2008)