Beijing court accepts plagiarism case

BEIJING - A Beijing court accepted the plagiarism case of popular Taiwanese romance novelist Chiung Yao against scriptwriter Yu Zheng and five television companies.

Chiung filed a lawsuit at No. 3 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing on Tuesday. She claims the plot of TV series "The Palace: The Lost Daughter" has been almost completely copied without permission from her novel "Mei Hua Lao" (Plum Blossom Scar).

"The Palace: The Lost Daughter" is aired on Hunan Satellite TV on the mainland, while Mei Hua Lao was previously adapted into a TV series in 1993. Chiung Yao is also demanding compensation of 20 million yuan (3.2 million US dollars).

In her complaint, Chiung Yao said the defendants had gained huge profits from plagiarizing her works. She has been writing a new script based on the story of Mei Hua Lao, but the plagiarism has become an obstacle to the shooting of her new TV series and caused her emotional damage.

According to her indictment, Chiung Yao asked Yu and the five television companies to stop broadcasting "The Palace: The Lost Daughter" on both TV and the Internet, or releasing any copies of the TV series, and asked Yu to make a public apology.

The defendants have also been asked to cover all the plaintiff's legal fees.