Renowned director Zhang Yimou will receive 450,000 yuan in compensation and a public apology from a writer and a publishing house for a violation of his rights, a local court ruled yesterday.

Huaxia Press and Huang Xiaoyang, author of the book Impression China: Zhang Yimou's Biography, were charged with violating Zhang's image, name and reputation at the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court.

Zhang, 58, is a leading film director in China. He was the general director of the Beijing Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies in 2008, and the general director of the 60th anniversary of the National Day on Oct 1.

The court said that Huaxia press and Huang should also publish an official apology in a national newspaper.

The book first appeared at the Shanghai Book Fair in August 2008. Zhang's personal image and signature constituted the cover page, and most of its contents were related to Zhang's marriage, family life, personal feeling and career achievements.

Tong Jie, Zhang's lawyer, said Huang and Huaxia Press used Zhang's personal portrait without permission. He added that the signature had been forged.

Tong also said the book's details were mostly unconfirmed hearsay and fabrication.

Some paragraphs of the book directly described Zhang's marital life and emotional entanglement, written in a way as to suggest Zhang had authenticated the information.

After the book went public, national websites ran the content as stories and a large number of web users flooded the web with comments.

Most were criticisms of Zhang's personal emotional life.

Zhang Feng, a lawyer representing Huaxia Press, said they didn't violate Zhang's rights. He added that after Zhang objected, they got hold of the unsold books and asked bookstores to take what they had left off the shelves.

Huang Xiaoyang said he admitted using Zhang's image and signature without his consent, and that some of the content was unverified.

"But I never used any insulting or defamatory words in the book. I employed a spontaneous flow of praise," he said.

The court said that compared with the general public, celebrities have a responsibility to bear criticism.

But since most of the book lacked a genuine source of information, the ensuing misunderstanding among readers created an excessively negative evaluation of Zhang.

Zhang had originally demanded compensation of 1.5 million yuan.