The Intermediate People's Court of Nanjing in eastern China sentenced the Twelve Girls Band to compensation of about 20,000 yuan (US$2,613) for copyright infringements.

The Twelve Girls Band played the music of Ala Muhan and Girl of Daban City in their Nanjing New Year live set at the beginning of 2006. The Music Copyright Society of China sued the band at the end of that year.

Though Ala Muhan and Girl of Daban City are folk songs, the copyrights belong to Wang Luobin, a renowned Han Chinese songwriter who specialized in composing Mandarin-language songs based on the music of various ethnic minorities in western China. Wang Luobin had accredited the Music Copyright Society of China to take charge of the copyrights.

The Twelve Girls Band is a music group, always appearing as twelve on stage, using traditional Chinese instruments to play both Chinese traditional and Western songs.

(CRI.cn May 25, 2007)