The China Audio and Video Copyright Collective Management Association has filed a lawsuit against 24 KTV operators for copyright violation.
According to the lawyer representing CAVCCMA, which is the only collective management organization for audio and video products in China, CAVCCMA owns the screening rights and reproduction rights of more than 50 songs used by the 24 defendants, but the defendants did not pay any royalties despite being warned by CAVCCMA before litigation commenced.
CAVCCMA asks in its litigation that the 24 defendants stop the infringement immediately, delete the relevant works and that each defendant pay CNY200,000 compensation to CCCMAA.
Chinese media has quoted the defendants as responding that they don't object to paying copyright fees to CAVCCMA. However the fees CAVCCMA charges are too high. They propose that CAVCCMAshould charge copyright fees based on the location of each KTV — which determines whether the profitability of the KTV instead of adopting one rigid standard for all KTVs.
To date, the court has not made a final ruling.
