Novelist Gan files lawsuit against 'Indosiar'

JAKARTA (JP): An author of traditional martial arts novels has filed a lawsuit against the privately-owned Indosiar television station for allegedly using his stories in two television serials without permission.

Karsa Laksana Gani, 68, who is widely known as Gan K.L., formally lodged a complaint with the city police yesterday.

He claimed that the stories of the television serials entitled Return of the Condor Heroes and To Liong To aired by the station were originally his works.

According to Gan, an Indonesian citizen of Chinese origin who currently lives in Semarang, Central Java, the two stories were originally from China which he compiled in the Hokkian dialect in the early 1960s.

Indosiar, he said, purchased the films which were still in their old formats in Hong Kong but later aired them using Gan's version, which is in the form of novels.

The serials are dubbed in Indonesian.

In the television serial of Return of the Condor Heroes, originally entitled Sin Tiauw Hiap Lu, only the name of the main character of the film is slightly different, he said.

"I named the character Yo Ko while Indosiar names him Nyo Ko," he said. "But the other characters are absolutely similar," he added.

"Serial To Liong To aired by Indosiar daily from Monday to Friday beginning at 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. is no different from my story which I compiled since 1961," Gan said.

Return of the Condor Heroes aired in June and July while To Liong To has been aired since July.

According to Gan, the copyright violation by Indosiar against his works has caused him financial losses.

"Normally, at least 10,000 copies of my novels are sold each year," claimed the author of hundreds of novels.

"But a thousand copies is a record for me today," he said.

Last month, he said, an executive of the broadcasting firm called and expressed his apology to the author, saying that Indosiar had no idea about Gan's works.

There has since been no further steps taken by the company while it continues to air To Liong To, Gan said.

Although his complaint has been lodged, "it's still possible for Indosiar to solve this case outside of court," he said.

"What I need is just a small amount of compensation for my work," said Gan.

Indosiar, the newest private television station, is owned by the Salim group, the country's largest conglomerate, which is controlled by Sudono Salim. (bsr)