A popular all-girl music group is facing allegations of copyright and business violations.

The music group Twelve Girls Band, which has become popular at home and in Japan, is being sued by a local art planner at a Beijing court.

The plaintiff Zhang Tiejun charged Wang Xiaojing, creator and operator of Twelve Girls Band, with stealing the idea that gave rise to the band.

He is calling for a public apology and symbolic compensation of 43.27 yuan (US$5.2) from Wang and Wang's company.

No decision was made yesterday after the first hearing at the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court.

Twelve Girls Band, launched by Wang in 2001, is made up of 12 female artists that use traditional Chinese instruments to play both traditional Chinese and Western songs.

Zhang says he first came up with the idea in 1998.

"Wang came to my office early in 1999 and expressed his wishes for co-operation in the project," the plaintiff said.

"I believed him then and gave Wang the whole layout of the band, including the image design, recruitment method, tasks and performance plan," he said.

"But Wang disappeared after getting the layout and refused to see me."

"I knew nothing until March this year when I read about the details of Twelve Girls Band through the media," the plaintiff said.

"Through comparison, I found the layout of the Twelve Girls Band is the same as mine. Wang violated my copyright and business secret," he said.

But Wang disputed Zhang's claims.

"I learned from others, instead of copying others," Wang was quoted as saying.

Wang admitted that the band mentioned in Zhang's layout is similar to Twelve Girls Band, but said the design is not new but dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

"The Twelve Girls Band is totally different from Zhang's layout, although his plan also called for a girls' band," he said.

"We make profits through music discs, but Zhang intended to use the band to perform for foreign embassies in Beijing to invite investment," Wang said.

"The success of the Twelve Girls Band is from successful business operation of the project, not just from the name," he stressed.

Zheng Guangyuan, the lawyer representing Wang, said yesterday that Zhang's layout is no different from the traditional style for that kind of band and has no originality.

(China Daily October 12, 2004)