A short message writer surnamed Fu has sued Sohu.com (SOHU), accusing the embattled Chinese web portal of using his short message writings without paying him.

Fu is asking for CNY3 million in compensation.

Fu said that that he signed a one-year cooperation agreement with Sohu.com on January 31, 2005 and authorized Sohu.com to use 200 of his short messages on its website for that year. However, Sohu.com continued to use the short messages after the agreement expired on January 30, 2006 without his approval and without paying him any money.

Fu said that Sohu.com had infringed on his copyright by doing so and asked it to stop the infringement, make an apology and compensate him for his losses.

Li Jingchuan, a lawyer for Sohu.com, has said that Fu signed with Sohu.com in the name of his company, but now he personally lodged the lawsuit, so Fu has no legal basis in which to bring this case to court.

This case is to be processed by a court in Shanghai and might take a few months to reach a verdict.