An intermediate court in Huangshiruled that Qingdao Publishing Groupshould apologize to plaintiff ChenXurong, a renowned chef, and payhim more than 2,000 yuan ($313) forviolating his copyright.

Chen who has developed a series ofrecipes based on local cuisine authorizedthe publishing house to releaseseveral cookbooks. Another cookbookpublished by the same company containeda recipe, the text and graphicsof which were almost identical to one in hisbook.

Th e court said the recipe at issue in thecase is not one that is commonly knownamong the public, and it contained innovationsby the chef.

Th e court ruled that the company, as apublisher of Chen’s books, was aware that heis the creator and still used the words withoutauthorization, which constituted piracy.

(Source:CHINA INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY)