Chinese pop singer Sun Nan has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart Changsha Huangxing Road Store, Guizhou Weixun Technology Development Company and Shandong Culture Audio and Video Publishing House, accusing the three parties of violating the copyrights of his songs.
According to local media reports, Sun is asking Wal-Mart to stop selling the disk with the songs and the disk manufacturers GWTDC and SCAVPH to pay him RMB250,000 in compensation. Sun's lawyer said that Sun found in July 2006 that the Wal-Mart store was selling three disks that contain five of his songs, including Salvation and Burning, and found that the disks were made and distributed by the other two defendants.
However, Wal-Mart's lawyer has told local media that the shopping receipt provided by Sun couldn't serve as evidence that he had bought from Wal-Mart the three disks under dispute, and GWTDC's representative also said that there was no legal basis for Sun to sue them as the disks were a combined album of over ten singers. According to general practice, GWTDC says there is no need for them to get approval from each of the singers before putting the songs together.
As Sun himself did not show up at the hearing, the court will reportedly issue a verdict soon.
