Copyright violations cost Tudou 370k yuan

The popular video sharing website tudou.com has been ordered to pay two companies a total of 370,000 yuan ($61,129) for violating their copyrights on a film and a television program, a city court said Wednesday.

The plaintiffs, EDKO Film Co and CNTV.cn, sued tudou.com for copyright infringement in separate cases, according to a press release from Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court.

In the most recent case, the court ordered Tudou to pay EDKO Film 125,000 yuan on January 17 for violating their agreement regarding the 2012 film Cold War, according to the press release.

EDKO had sued Tudou for 520,000 yuan after the website began showing the film online on November 22, 2012, more than two months before their agreement allowed the website to do so, the court said.

The production company, which was the sole copyright holder for Cold War on the Chinese mainland, pointed out that the film, which made 200 million yuan in the first 11 days of its release, was still playing in theaters at the time Tudou began showing it.

In the other case, the court ordered Tudou to pay CNTV.cn about 248,000 yuan for violating the latter website's exclusive rights to show a popular food documentary series, A Bite of China, online, the court said. The series was first aired on China Central Television (CCTV) in May 2012.

CNTV.cn filed its lawsuit in August 2012 after the series appeared on tudou.cn a week after its television premier.

The court ruled that Tudou should compensate CNTV.cn for showing the series without proper permission, according to the press release.