Vietnamese writer's copyright dispute with Apple

A controversial Vietnamese actress and singer Le Kieu Nhu wrote a book called Soi xich (The Chain) which was published in March 2010. It is the erotic story of a young woman's abusive marital life. However it received poor reviews so was withdrawn from publication shortly after.  However it has been sold for the last 3 years on the ITunes Store, so after discovering this Nhu hired a lawyer to make a claim against Apple.  A warning letter alleging copyright infringement has been sent to Cupertino demanding removal of the book from the Itunes Store and compensation of USD100,000 and royalties at 30c per copy sold. A quick search indicates the book is no longer available.

These kinds of disputes are popping up in many countries. In China numerous authors have sued Apple similarly. However Apple just operates a store, so someone else presumably sold the title via Itunes. Apple presumably can recoup any losses that from the publisher. Their bigger concern is probably the trend.