Company files lawsuit over rare tiger 'pictures'

The boss of a folk painting firm in eastern China has sued a farmer and a senior government official in Shaanxi Province, claiming the farmer used his company's paintings to fabricate pictures of a rare tiger, while, the farmer said all the shots were genuine.

Luo Guanglin, the general manager of Yiwu Weisite Printing & Packaging Inc, said in his blog yesterday that he filed a lawsuit in Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province. Luo is suing Zhou Zhenglong, a farmer in Shaanxi's Zhenpin County and Guan Ke, the director of Information Office of the Forestry Bureau in Shaanxi, New Express reported today.

Luo said Zhou used the New Year tiger paintings published by Weisite in 2002 and fabricated his photographs of a rare South China tiger based on these paintings, the report said.

Chinese New Year paintings are a popular folk art and are usually pinned up on doors, walls and windows during the Spring Festival to invite blessings.

Luo demanded Zhou stop the infringement, make a public apology and pay compensation of 10,000 yuan (US$1,375.52), the report said, citing a document posted on Luo's blog.

Luo named Guan in the lawsuit due to the official's "indiscreet comments" after the official said in interviews that Weisite's New Year tiger paintings were "ridiculously" fake and that "it was impossible for Zhou to make his real pictures out of these fake paintings."

The court has not decided if it will accept the case, the report said.