A company in Dongguan was ordered to pay a Guangzhou company 20,000 yuan (US$2,400) by the provincial higher court for selling two pirated CDs, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Wednesday.

The Guangzhou company found CDs with songs copied from its authorized collection were on sale at a market in Dongguan on June 21 last year. The company then invited Guangzhou notaries to watch it buy two pirated CDs.

It then took the market management company to court, asking for 40,000 yuan compensation.

The management company said it only rented out the market booths to a businessman named Cheng Xiaohua, who sold the pirated CDs, and should not be responsible for the pirated CDs.

But the Guangzhou company showed the court an invoice proving the seller was the management company.

The court ruled that the management company should pay 10,000 yuan for each pirated CD, taking the CD's type, price and its property owner's loss into consideration.

Li Tao, a legal expert from Renmin University in Beijing, said the verdict could be an example for similar copyright cases.

In another development, Guangzhou authorities had launched a two-month campaign targeting copyright infringement on audio-video products from June 20, the report said.

Editor: Yan