Beijing, Jan 11 (IANS) A man in Shanghai has been jailed for producing and selling more than 70,000 unauthorised maps of the city.

A people’s court in Shanghai sentenced 49-year-old Lu Xuegen to three-and-a-half-years and fined him 20,000 yuan (around $3,200) after finding him guilty of infringing the copyright of the Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, the legal publisher of city maps.

The court said Lu started producing maps in July last year after noticing how well the maps sell in the city. He hired a printing company to print copies of the maps after scanning a genuine version, the Shanghai Daily reported.

Lu sold the maps to newsstands and vendors at the Shanghai railway station.

Pirated maps are sold at tourist attractions, usually for three yuan, while a genuine map is priced at six yuan in the market.

The court did not say whether the printing company was punished, but prosecutors said the company’s boss returned 50,000 yuan.