A CHINESE court has ordered Apple Inc to pay 1.03 million yuan ($A160,000) to eight Chinese writers and two companies who say unlicensed copies of their work were distributed through Apple’s online store.

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court ruled on today that Apple violated the writers’ copyrights by allowing applications containing their work to be distributed through its App Store, according to an official who answered the phone at the court and said he was the judge in the case.  The case grouped together eight lawsuits filed by them and their publishers. The award was less than the 12 million yuan ($A1.84 million) sought by the authors. Unlicensed copying of books, music, software and other products is widespread in China despite repeated government promises to stamp out violations.

Apple’s agreement with application developers requires them to confirm they have obtained rights to material distributed through the company’s App Store.

In November, a court ordered Apple to pay 520,000 yuan to the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House for copyright infringement in a separate case. Apple is appealing, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

In the latest case, the Beijing court awarded 605,000 yuan to one company and 21,500 yuan to the second, according to the court official. The biggest individual judgment went to writer Han Ailian, who was awarded 186,000 yuan.