China's most prestigious English language training school, the New Oriental Education Group, is planning to appeal a court verdict ordering it to pay two US education groups US$1.21 million for copyright infringement.
The school Saturday lost a lawsuit filed by the New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the Virginia-based Graduate Management Admission Council's (GMAC), which alleged New Oriental had illegally copied and sold its tests.
The school was told to stop copying the tests -- the TOEFL, or Test of English as a Foreign Language, the GRE, or Graduate Record Examination, and the GMAT, or Graduate Management Admission Test.
Students from non English-speaking countries have to take the tests before applying to graduate schools in the US.
Xu Xiaoping, a spokesman for New Oriental, said the verdict was unfair and the company would appeal to a higher court, according to the China Daily.
ETS publishes materials in most countries where the tests are held. But in China, which has the largest number of test takers, students have to buy the materials from ETS directly, paying more for the books, China Daily said.
ETS and GMAC officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but the companies were cited by China Daily as saying the lawsuit sought to protect the integrity of the examination system.
Several former students of New Oriental told reporters the company accumulates a large pool of test questions by frequently sending its teachers to take the tests and by buying tests materials from overseas.
The school analyzes previous tests to come up with a list of questions most likely to be asked. Questions and their answers are then drilled into the students, leading some critics to allege Chinese test takers get high scores even though their English skills and knowledge level might be low.
The popularity of the school and its practices reflect the desparate yearning among many Chinese people to study abroad as many believe their future in China's competitive environment is bleak without a degree from abroad.
The amount awarded to the two US firms is relatively high for copyright infringement cases in China, which are rarely won by foreign companies and if won, are awarded nominal compensation.
New Oriental was ordered to hand in all illegal copies of ETS and GMAC materials and publish an apology.
China has been under pressure by other countries to crack down on piracy after it joined the WTO in 2001.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique