Apple gets sued by Chinese authors for copyright infringement

FRUIT THEMED TECH FIRM Apple has been sued by a group of Chinese authors for 11.9m Yuan ($1.9m) for allegedly allowing books that infringe their copyrights to go on sale in its online store.

According to Reuters, the group behind the lawsuit has been trying to make Apple remove copyright infringing books from its App Store for months. It has sued Apple in China's No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in Beijing for copyright infringement of 37 works.

The group of nine authors is proceeding under the umbrella of the China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS). The lobbying group has also taken part in other high profile legal battles with Baidu and Google over their online book products.

Usually it is Apple that does the suing. The cappuccino company is embroiled in several patent lawsuits around the world and has apparently also threatened a Chinese company over a Steve Jobs action doll.

We have asked Apple to comment but as yet haven't heard back. µ