Apple Inc has been sued by a group of Chinese authors for 11.9 million Yuan ($1.9 million) in compensation for allegedly providing copyright-infringing books for download through its online store, according to Chinese financial magazine Caixin.

The group behind the lawsuit has been lobbying for months to get Apple remove copyright-infringing books from its App Store.

Under the mantle of the China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS), the group of nine authors sued Apple in Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court for copyright infringement of 37 works, Caixin reported. An Apple spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment and calls to the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court were not answered.

Asian stock markets rose on Wednesday with investors emboldened by reports that France and Germany were moving closer toward resolving debt crisis of Europe through a massive expansion of the region’s bailout fund.

The dollar was lower against the euro and the yen, and oil prices hovered above $88 per barrel.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.1 percent to 8,749.74 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 1.3 percent higher at 18,302.83. South Korea’s Kospi was marginally lower at 1,837.74. Benchmarks in Singapore, Australia, India and Indonesia were higher. Those in Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand fell.

The Guardian newspaper reported that France and Germany have agreed to expand the rescue fund for nations using the euro common currency to euros 2 trillion ($2.74 trillion). The paper cited unnamed European diplomats and said European officials are expected to take up the expansion along with a package of other measures at a meeting this weekend.

“Following recent volatility, it is unlikely that we will see quite as big a rally locally as our U.S. peers today. Particularly at the retail end of the market, investors will probably wait to see successive gains before rushing back into the market,” Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne said in a research note.

According to new data from IAB Ireland and PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC), the growth of internet advertising surpassed predictions last year and grew 13.5 per cent to hit €110 million.

IAB Ireland, the trade body for online advertising, revealed that all online advertising formats experienced growth.

From Irishtimes.com:

Suzanne McElligott, chief executive of IAB Ireland, described the growth as “fantastic” but she said there were “real reasons for it”.

These included an increase in the use of broadband, with 2.1 million connections according to the latest ComReg data, and people spending more time online; on average 19.1 hours per week last year according to research firm Red C.

Ms McElligott also cited Red C research that shows people spend an average of 2 hours 49 minutes watching television every day and 2 hours 44 minutes online.

The car industry became the biggest spender last year, accounting for 21 per cent of spend.

Recruitment and property, previously the largest spending category, was 17 per cent of the total.

The next three largest sectors were fast-moving consumer goods, telecommunications and financial services.

Display ads were particularly strong, increasing share from 26.6 per cent of the total in 2009 to 31 per cent last year, according to IAB.

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