A local Chinese court has ruled in favor of well-known Chinese painter Chen Kezhi in a painting copyright lawsuit, the first of its kind in China, in which Chen was accused of plagiarism by fellow artist Gao Xiaohua.

The plaintiff Gao, a professor at Chongqing University in Southwest China, accused Chen of copying his artistic technique in his work "The Big Bombardment of Chongqing 1938-1943", according to the Chongqing Municipal Higher People's Court.

The higher court agreed with the verdict handed down by an intermediate court. Gao cannot appeal. Neither painter could be reached by reporters for comment.

In 2003 Gao and Chen both submitted proposals to the Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing for a painting about the five-year bombardment of the southwestern city by Japanese troops during World War II.

Gao's first painting ranked top in the first round of bidding but, in the second round, Chen produced a painting that was "almost the same" as Gao's work, said Gao.

Chen responded that he had already completed that painting before the first round but chose not to reveal it until the final round.

In its verdict, the Chongqing Intermediate Court said even though the two paintings adopted a similar angle, the "handling of artistic details" differed.

The court also cited a bidding rule of the Three Gorges Museum -- participants can "learn from each other" during the bidding process -- to which both artists consented.

Chen and Gao, who both graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in the 1980s, have a similar technique.

According to China's Copyright Law, the act of duplicating another person's painting without permission, producing paintings under another's name or signing one's name to another person's paintings all constitute "copyright violations".

"Paintings are different from books and China's current copyright laws do not really apply in this case," said Li Mingde, a researcher with the Institute of Law under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Li said one cannot really accuse people of violating laws just because they "take a picture of something" from the same angle that you did.

Zheng Shengli, a professor at Peking University, said it is possible for two painters, under the same circumstances, to come up with very similar works.

Source: Xinhua