India, May 24 -- Audi's joint venture company in China has been forced to apologize for allegedly using a poem in an advertisement without seeking the original author's permission. The joint venture company, FAW-Volkswagen, said that the commercial that landed it into trouble was produced by M&C Saatchi, a UK-based advertising agency. In response to the controversy, Audi has ordered the video to be taken down.

The carmaker has asked the advertisement agency to deal with the infringement as soon as possible, China's Global Times reported. The commercial that was directed by Peng Yangjun features a famous actor from Hong Kong, Andy Lau, who can be seen introducing the traditional Chinese solar term Xiaoman (grain buds), which fall at this ...