Apple sued for inadvertent aid to e-book pirates

Apple is currently facing a lawsuit in China for allegedly aiding in the sale of illegally published e-books on the iBookstore. The People's Daily reported that nine authors accused Apple of doing nothing to stop bootleggers from publishing 37 works without permission and profiting from it. They contended that Apple owed them the equivalent of nearly $1.9 million in damages, both for letting the publishers through and for profiting from its customary 30 percent cut.

While not accusing Apple of direct piracy as part of the claims, the authors wanted Apple to verify the copyright of books before it published them to avoid a repeat incident. The American company wasn't honoring local laws, they said. Apple has supposedly turned down the request for unknown reasons.

No comment had been given from Apple.

The complaint is a rare direct accusation against Apple of allowing through illegal content. While apps of questionable merit sometimes appear, like strategy guides or purported cheats, the content is usually legal on a basic level. Apple watches iTunes stores more closely than Google, which is known to periodically allow fraud on Android Market for short periods as it doesn't usually check apps, though not necessarily media, on a significant level before they go live. [via The Next Web]

By Electronista Staff