Black Hole image ownership triggers heated debate

The micro blog posted two photos taken of the company's website, showing images of China's national flag and emblem watermarked as being Visual China Group's copyright and were for sale.

The company said anyone using images of the flag and emblem for magazine covers should pay it at least 1,000 yuan ($149). According to the micro blog, for other commercial uses, the price needed to be further negotiated.

Several large enterprises, including search engine giant Baidu, major retailer Suning and security software provider Qihoo 360, posted comments on the micro blog, saying their own logos had been used by Visual China Group for profit. They said the company claimed to have the copyright for these images.

The company later issued another response, saying images of the national flag and emblem were provided by contracted contributors, and conceding that it had failed to strictly carry out its "review and management duties".

The company also apologized to the public, adding that it had withdrawn the improperly-posted images and would strengthen review of its practices in line with the law.

On the evening on April 11, the Tianjin Cyberspace Administration, where the company is based, summoned senior Visual China Group executives,.

It ordered the company to review all historical stock and remove improper listings, as well as sending a team to inspect the "rectification" work.

On April 12, the National Copyright Administration said on its website it would launch a special crackdown to further regulate copyright image this year to safeguard owners' legitimate rights and interests.

The copyright watchdog also said: "Companies must improve copyright management and handle image copyright in accordance with laws, not abuse them." The same day, the company closed its websites to carry out "self-examination".

Increased disputes

Li Shunde, a senior intellectual property researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, applauded the campaign as a timely and necessary step to regulate those providing stock images.

"We should abide by laws and litigation to protect copyright instead of abusing them to profit improperly," he said.