Music Copyright Society enforces right of household song

'I picked up a penny on the side of the road...,' a song familiar to generations of Chinese, is now a subject of a legal dispute. The Music Copyright Society of China (MCSC), a collecting society, representing the song's holder, lodged an action to combat pirated disks. The IPR Tribunal of the Dongcheng District Court in Beijing heard the case.

The plaintiff MCSC claimed it was authorized by the holder through contract to manage the copyright of the song, Penny, including filing legal actions if necessary. The defendant made a VCD containing the song without the authorization of the holder and the plaintiff and sold the VCDs on market to gain illegitimate benefits. The copyright of the song is infringed. Since it had purchased an infringing copy from www.dangdang.com, the plaintiff sued www.dangdang.com, the infringing copy maker and the distributor, seeking damages in the sum of 15,000 yuan.

During the trial, the plaintiff proposed a settlement combining this song and several other songs not in dispute here. Due to gaping opinions on the amount of compensation, there was no agreement reached.