Actress Fan Bingbing

A Beijing hospital will pay Chinese actress Fan Bingbing 100,000 yuan after a second court decided in favor of the star, who claimed emotional damages and damage to her reputation after the hospital illegally used her name in ads for plastic surgery.

Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court turned down the appeal of the defendant, Beijing Modern Women's Hospital, who had slandered the actress Fan Bingbing in online ads.

The court upheld the original ruling that the hospital should remove all the ads from its websites and issue a public apology in addition to the 100,000 yuan in monetary compensation.

Ads hawking a "special summer offer on Fan Bingbing's plastic surgery" and giving a link to the hospital's website appeared on the internet in September 2007.

The actress claimed she has never authorized the organization to publish any ads using her name and had not had plastic surgery at the hospital.

Therefore the actress claimed the hospital had no right to use her name in its ads or put her image on their website, and that the hospital's use of her name and picture were a shameful slander against her reputation.

The hospital defended the ads in court by claiming they actually reference a Hebei citizen of the same name, not the famous actress.

However, the hospital failed to get the girl in question to testify, admitting that she is not a party to the case and had declined to appear in court.

The court found that the hospital's defense didn't hold water and ruled that the Beijing hospital had misled the public by taking advantage of Fan Bingbing's celebrity and damaged the actress's public image.

The actress was pleased with the result, saying that it proves she never had the surgery and that her lawful rights have been protected.

(CRI July 8, 2009)