Technology giant Apple has been ordered to pay compensation to eight Chinese writers and two companies for selling unlicensed books online, state media reported. The California-based company was ordered to pay a total fine of 1.03 million yuan ($165,908) to the plaintiffs for violating their copyrights, Xinhua news agency said.

The ruling was issued on December 28 by the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, the report said.

Downloads, which were described as being in great quantity and resulted in large economic losses for the plaintiffs, the lawyer was quoted as saying.

According to Xinhua, the court decided that the plaintiffs' "right of communication through information networks" covered by China's Copyright Law had been violated by Apple through its provision of apps that included the unlicensed books.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012