Beijing Court Upholds Copyright Protection For Gmat Exam

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4th December 2009, 02:45am - Views: 1010





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MEDIA RELEASE PR37388


Beijing Court Upholds Copyright Protection for GMAT Exam


MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --


    The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court has upheld the right of the

Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) to protect its copyrights in the

Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) from infringement in China. The

GMAT exam is used by more than 4,700 graduate business programmes in almost

2,000 schools around the world as a critical part of the admission process.


    GMAC sued Beijing Passion Consultancy Ltd. for providing copyrighted GMAT

materials to test takers for a fee, including reconstructed live questions

and questions from GMAT Prep materials, with much of the infringing activity

on Passion's website. GMAC detected Passion's illegal practices by using its

patent pending "ItemFind" software as well as other GMAC-developed

internet-based technologies.


    Following a review of GMAC's evidence and an audit of Passion's

activities related to the GMAT, the Court and Presiding Judge Yi Jun,

supervised a mediation and settlement. The Mediation Statement entered by the

Court on November 23 requires Passion to "cease all infringing activities

immediately," to place a public apology in a nationally distributed

newspaper, and to post on its website a warning from GMAC to students about

the consequences of unethical behavior. Passion will also pay GMAC RMB

520,000 in compensation.


    The Mediation Statement recognizes GMAC's copyrights in GMAT test

questions and related publications and notes that Passion distributed GMAT

materials without GMAC's permission in its "VIP training courses" and through

downloads from its website.


    "The Court's actions send a strong message about the seriousness of

cheating and the potential consequences - including cancellation of GMAT

scores - for those who are caught cheating," said GMAC President and CEO

David A. Wilson. "We are committed to ensuring the integrity of the GMAT and

the admission process, and we will do all we can - through technology and the

legal process - to prevent, detect, report, and deter copyright infringement

and other unethical behavior."


    Attorneys Zhou Qiang of ZY Partners in Beijing, and Robert Burgoyne of

Fulbright & Jaworski in Washington, D.C., who represented GMAC, noted that

this was one of the first lawsuits in China to confront internet-based

copyright infringement, and the first such lawsuit against a test preparation

program. The Chinese government has identified internet-based copyright

infringement as an area of concern in its Action Plan on IPR Protection.



association of leading graduate business schools around the world and owner

of the GMAT exam. It is based in McLean, Virginia, with a European office in

London. More information about the GMAT, which is the only standardized test

designed expressly for graduate business and management programs worldwide,

is available at www.mba.com.


People Feature Graduate Management Admission Council 3 image

     SOURCE: Graduate Management Admission Council


    CONTACT: Judy Phair of the Graduate Management Admission Council

             Office: +1-703-245-0660

             Mobile: +1-202-903-3227

             jphair@gmac.com



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