Visual media company closed temporarily over copyright irregularities

A media company has been shut down temporarily and ordered to amend its practices after Internet regulators in Tianjin uncovered irregularities with materials on its website, authorities announced on Friday.

Many images and photos available for sale on vcg.com were found to be at fault, said Tianjin Cyberspace Administration on its WeChat account.

The administration ordered the website to undergo a thorough overhaul and tighten management and training of employees.

The website said in an online statement posted on Friday morning that it had taken down all "unqualified" images and will enhance internal reviews.

One problematic image was of a black hole, found on vcg.com on April 11, with remarks saying that the image was for editorial use only. Users were asked to contact the website for commercial use rights, implying that the company claimed copyright to the black hole photo.

However, the image of the black hole, based on observations through the Event Horizon Telescope, could be downloaded for free at the website of the European Southern Observatory. The images are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and can be used free of charge as long as proper attribution is clear and visible.

The observatory said in an interview on Friday with National Business Daily that it never transferred copyright to other parties and no one from vcg.com had contacted them regarding the matter.

Furthermore, the website was found selling images of China’s national emblem and flag, charging no less than 1,000 yuan (US$149) for their use on a magazine’s cover, and no less than 500 yuan on a double-page spread.

Vcg.com later explained the images of the national emblem and flag were provided by a third-party contributor and it failed to examine and verify the contents.

According to Chinese law on the use of the national emblem and flag, they are prohibited for commercial use.