A well-known Chinese writer is suing a popular police drama for using his photo without permission in a series of mugshots shown in one episode, Sixth Tone’s sister publication The Paper reported Friday.

Wang Yuewen, a 56-year-old writer from central Hunan province, discovered last month that the online series “Police Dog Is Coming” had included his photograph in a group of mugshots from which a witness on the show was supposed to identify a drug dealer.

In an apology letter sent to Wang, the show’s production company, Datang Brilliant Media Co. Ltd., said that an employee surnamed Shen had found Wang’s photo after image-searching “middle-aged man” online. The employee had not obtained permission to use the photo, the company wrote, and no one had realized the problem until after Wang brought it to their attention. The company stressed that Shen had not looked for a photo of Wang specifically, nor had he been aware that Wang is a well-known figure.

But Wang was not satisfied with Datang’s apology. “Besides the unreasonable explanation, no sincerity could be sensed here,” he wrote Thursday in his Moments social feed on messaging app WeChat, including screenshots of the production company’s apology letter, dated March 30.

On Datang Brilliant Media’s official website, the company claims to produce hundreds of new online series every year. According to the channel for “Police Dog Is Coming” on Tencent Video, a Netflix-like streaming service, the show’s 48 episodes have a combined 920 million views.

Sixth Tone’s reporter was able to verify that a photo of Wang appeared twice just before the five-minute mark of the show’s 48th episode. When Sixth Tone contacted Datang on Friday and Monday, a staff member said the person responsible for the case was unavailable for comment.

Wang’s lawyer, Hu Yongping of Hunan Wensheng Law Firm, told Sixth Tone that the photo the show had used was special because Wang’s wife had chosen it for the author bio of her husband’s 2014 novel, “Year One of the Love Calendar.”

According to Datang’s letter to Wang, the company admitted its employee’s error and apologized for infringing on Wang’s right of portrait but did not propose monetary compensation — a common solution to minor legal disputes.

“If you’re going to use a picture [for your show], you should know who the person is,” said Hu, the lawyer. He warned in his own WeChat Moments feed that he plans to report the case to the local police and the State Administration of Radio and Television this week.

Editor: David Paulk.

(Header image: Wang Yuewen gives a speech at a public event in Chengdu, Sichuan province, March 29, 2014. VCG)