BEIJING, July 19 -- Writer Duan Jian is suing one of China's largest Internet portals for allegedly republishing an online novel he published on another site under a law that went into effect earlier this month.

    Duan is demanding Sohu.com give him a public apology and 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) in compensation.

    The case is the first plagiarism suit heard under the Internet Information Right Protecting Regulation that went into effect on July 1.

    The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court accepted the case yesterday.

    Duan said he first published his novel on Sina.com, one of Sohu's top rivals. He said it received more than 1 million hits.

    He later found, however, that Sohu had reprinted the novel on its site without his permission.

    "I spent plenty of energy writing the novel - they are stealing my production," said Duan.

    "The Websites have to pay for their use of any articles they published because the articles have brought them a lot of profit," said the author's lawyer Wang Zhan. "Millions of people clicked to read Duan's novel, the Website has gained a lot through it."

    The newly published regulation states that Websites are not allowed to publish any article without permission of the author, otherwise the writer can seek compensation.

    "This is the first case, but won't be the only one," said Wang.

    As the first case of its kind, the legal community is watching.

    "This is obviously a tortuous case," said Gu Huimin from Shanghai Nuosheng Law Firm. "The new regulation has regulated clearly that publishing articles without authorizations is illegal."

    But the fact the author has never been paid for his writing could hurt his chances of receiving all of the compensation he is asking for, Gu added.