## Facts

- Qian Zhongshu (Qian) wrote the novel *Siege* (also known as *Fortress Besieged*), which first appeared in the late 1940s as installments in a magazine.
- After the serialized publication, Qian made many textual changes over a period of years, and the work was also issued as a single-volume book.
- In 1980, Qian granted People’s Publishing House (People’s) exclusive rights to publish *Siege* under a contract that initially ran through 1990.
- After the initial term expired, Qian and People’s renewed the exclusive publishing arrangement for an additional ten years.
- In the early 1990s, Xu Zhifen (Xu) proofread and compiled a version of *Siege* using the original magazine installments as the source text.
- Qian did not authorize Xu to prepare or publish this compiled version.
- Sichuan Literature & Arts Publishing House (Sichuan) published Xu’s version without authorization from Qian.
- Qian and People’s sued Xu and Sichuan in the Shanghai Intermediate People’s Court, seeking a public apology and payment representing a share of the proceeds from sales of the unauthorized version.
- The Shanghai Intermediate People’s Court ruled for Qian and People’s.
- The case then came before the Shanghai Higher People’s Court because the damages award required correction due to a calculation error.

## Issues

1. Whether Xu and Sichuan infringed Qian’s copyright by compiling, reproducing, and publishing an unauthorized version of *Siege* derived from the original magazine installments.
2. Whether Sichuan’s publication of the unauthorized version violated People’s exclusive right to publish *Siege* during the renewed exclusivity term.
3. What appellate relief was appropriate where liability was found but the damages calculation contained an error.

## Decision

- The Shanghai Higher People’s Court held that Xu and Sichuan were liable for infringement of Qian’s copyright based on the unauthorized preparation and publication of the compiled version of *Siege*.
- The court held that Sichuan’s publication also infringed People’s exclusive publication right during the exclusivity period granted by Qian.
- The court corrected the damages award to fix the calculation error and otherwise left the judgment for Qian and People’s in place.

## Legal Principles

- Preparing and publishing an unlicensed compiled or annotated version of a protected literary work, where the text is reproduced for distribution, requires the author’s authorization and may infringe the author’s copyright.
- Exclusive publication rights granted to a publisher are enforceable against third-party publishers that issue competing editions of the same work during the exclusivity term, even if the competing edition is based on earlier installments rather than later revised book text.
- On appeal, where infringement liability is supported by the record but damages were computed incorrectly, the proper remedy is to modify the damages calculation rather than disturb the liability determination.

## Conclusion

The Shanghai Higher People’s Court (1996) treated the defendants’ compilation and publication of an unauthorized version of *Siege* as copyright infringement and also as interference with the exclusive publishing rights held by People’s under its renewed contract with Qian, while adjusting the monetary award to correct a damages calculation error.


Qian Zhongshu and People's Publishing House v. Xu Zhifen and Sichuan Literature & Arts Publishing House, Shanghai Higher People’s Court (1996)