Chinese search engine Baidu under another lawsuit
Baidu, the most popular search engine in China, is in the legal crosshairs once again. This time, the company is being targeted by the Music Copyright Society of China for copyright infringement. The lawsuit, which was filed in January, seeks CN¥1 million (about US$140,000) in damages and comes to light less than a month after Baidu was sued by the IFPI for deep-linking MP3s. The lawsuit lists 50 songs that are reportedly direct-linked by the search engine; chances are, this is only the tip of the deep-liking iceberg. A large part of Baidu’s popularity may be due to the fact that it makes it easy for users to dig up copyrighted material. In addition to linking to piracy sites, which just about every search engine does, Baidu also links directly to MP3s, movie rips, and other copyrighted content.
Search for your own (illegal) CD!
“Baidu is not the only search engine involved in infringing music copyrights, but currently it is the largest,” Qu Jingming, director of the Music Copyright Society of China, told the Market News, according to AFP. Search engines operating in China are coming under increased scrutiny, and the country’s legal system has finally showed signs that it is ready and willing to crack down on copyright infringement—to a degree, anyway. In December 2007, the Beijing Higher People’s Court found Yahoo China liable for the same sort of deep linking that Baidu is being sued over in a case brought by the IFPI. Yahoo China was fined CN¥210,000 (about US$29,500) by the court. Piracy is a significant problem in China, due in part to the relatively high cost of DVDs and music in a country with lower living standards. With the government of the People’s Republic showing signs of taking the piracy problem seriously and Big Content adjusting to the realities of the market, the country’s stunningly high piracy rates may finally have a chance of improving.
Source: Ars Technica
Comments(36)
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
wow.. i have just been selected to win a free laptop!!!
And all this happens just after they enter into a partnership with an american copyright company (NMPA), I wish American companies would realise they don’t own the f*cking world and countries have their own laws that shouldn’t be influenced by these companies
WTF! The sued Yahoo China less than the Baidu search engine. Hmm…
where can i download this China that you speak of?
@5 lmao that comments made my day
US$29,500……that’s awesome, I bet Yahoo really cried over that one
@Dark_Overlord
They are not enforcing US laws, ever hear of the WIPO Copyright Treaty that was signed by 184 countries?! Or the EU Copyright Directive for that matter?
nice pic caption.
why would china want to take the piracy problem seriously? boo-hoo if hollywood etc. lose money due to piracy, why should any country care? if any of you have ever been to china, you’ve probably noticed that the so called measures against piracy are somewhat of a mere formality there..
How soon until Google and the other major search engine’s also get sued?. Come on, this is just stupid. Go to any of the major search engines and you can search for illegal material such as MP3 files, movies, applications. Governments and major organisations have failed to get sites such as torrent search sites offline, so this could be the next step to do it by the back door. Sue a chinese company, then a japanese, then russian, then british, american etc. etc. Force them to remove direct links, then do it all again to force them to remove torrent sites and links to applications such as emule, limewire etc. Wont work of course but if it stops the average mr and mrs normal they’ll be happy with that.
funny, copyright laws have been non-existant in china. And when the people that are suing baidu go home from work, they have to fight the dvd/cd -sellers just to get to the subway…
Why don’t they BAN the internet in China all together?
How about this WHY DONT they ban the internet worldwide……
oooo what do you know i been selected for a free laptop and it only costs me 800bucks
You can walk into one of those “malls” there specialize in customized PCs, pirated games and movies and buy whatever you want. Then the authority, probably pressured by Microsoft or the US music/movie industry would raid the place. It would be news all over. The next day it is back to business as usual until the next raid. I think the authority has the game downpacked. When the American industry got too upset, do a raid to make them happy.
You have no idea what this picture is. All the CDs in this photo is original. They are the CDs which big record companies sell to China as plastic rubbish. Some of them were process as drilling and stuff, which others are intact. I am a huge fan buying these stuff. I’ve been frequenting this particular market for a long time until it moved to other places. You would be surprised by the prices which they are sell these music at. Usually you buy one CD at 12 dollars. You will fine some unique stuff here. Japanese imports are the best here. American versions are good too. I don’t the European version with copyright restriction so much.
Then Mr.D you won’t have internet to dl your kiddie porn. LoL
I mentioned ban China internet not intranet.
Almost all the pirated sold copies are from China and they are a scammer and counterfitters. Alot of business say right on their website “Will not deal with China!” Too many lost wages due to there cheating ways.
Why would there be copyright laws in a communist country? Everything belongs to the people (state property).
Oh, right, we’re talking about CHINA here. My bad.
It’s pretty ironic that they still claim to be communists.
America want every single person in this world to be their slave, period.
I use this nickname very often in this site but the above comment is not by me (and I just guess that the sorry SOB smegla whose arse got pwned by me @ the King of Kong post or some other sick puppy like that cretin has something to do with it).
Now, back on topic, if Chinese counterfeiters become successfull in their plan, soon the term warez will also include not just pirated software but hardware also. Read this: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142976-c,networkinghardware/article.html – PiRATED gears n gadgets! WOW!
Thats why China should have their own internet, localized only, because they are commies. You talk about US wanting to make everyone their slaves but what do you think China wants to make you. If they could into a Commie-c*nts like them. Which would you prefer? Free rule or State ruled. Well time is ticking… if China keeps going the way they are(going to consume more oil than whole of USA by 2010) then get ready for those phoney dvds and fake cell phones, laptops(the ones that blow up next to your ear and on your lap) to make its way to a walmart near you.
Those days are over. Nowadays slavedriving is more commonly found in US offices. Don’t want a commie govt. though.
i hear a lot of ‘why not sue all search engines’ but why not go to the source and sue the man who makes his OS so P2P friendly? Even the descriptions of XP n Vista promotes filesharing, and supposedly everything else PC or web wise is based from MS’s P2P approach….
“Even the descriptions of XP n Vista promotes filesharing” just what do you mean by that?
Only thing I use google for now a days is hard to find rapidshare files or something odd. Just type in “name of thing you want” then rapidshare and you will most likely find it now
And comment #25 makes not a lot of sense, why would Microsoft promote piracy when just the other day they released a new update trying to stop people from downloading their OS. Ya, that makes a lot of sense 25, gj.
Those days are over? Do you quickly forget the dog food laced with animal byproducts from china? And the lead paint on *childerns* toys for christ’s sake just last Christmas. The manager of the factory that were making those toys killed himself over it,if you weren’t guilty you wouldn’t do such an act. Ok, so run down China killed thousands of your pets with a *cheap* way to make filler with pig hoofs and snots that were contaminated also giving your future generation brain damage with lead based toys, and you just forget?!? China will get you destoryed USA and Europe. Just wait and see. Sit there idle and just wait and see …
Termin4t0r X out!
Fight for the Future.
Poppa! are you a scitzo?
How can they don’t understand, that only original DVD/CD will be only bought by the richer people, and the poor people won’t, or sometimes, buy it. Piracy, existing or not, won’t change previous statement. Except if we all become rich.
Piracy is rampant in China only because of the low standard of living and the exorbitant prices of genuine CDs and DVDs, I mean a US$10 DVD would cost around 70 Yuan in China. When you consider that many people only earn a thousand or two Yuan a month, it’s pretty easy to see why. A pirate DVD-9 movie with perfect quality has a street price of 8 Yuan, less than ONE US DOLLAR…
@10 john dykes:
Because they want to be recognised as a world superpower? It’s all just an act to show the world that they’re being “responsible”.
@23 & 28 TerMin4T0R:
Why shouldn’t China consume more oil than the US? They ARE still developing, not to mention that the country’s population more than QUADRUPLES that of the US.
Also, did you know that it is the legal responsibility of product designers to specify what types of paints are to be used on toys down to the the tiniest details? You do realise the toys with lead paint were all made under the Fisher-Price and Mattel brands…
For your information, the contaminated pet food had nothing to do with pig hooves and snouts, they injected melamine to increase protein levels in order for them to demand a higher price on the market.
Piracy is rampant in China only because of the low standard of living and the exorbitant prices of genuine CDs and DVDs, I mean a US$10 DVD would cost around 70 Yuan in China. When you consider that many people only earn a thousand or two Yuan a month, it’s pretty easy to see why. A pirate DVD-9 movie with perfect quality has a street price of 8 Yuan, less than ONE US DOLLAR…
@10 john dykes:
Because they want to be recognised as a world superpower? It’s all just an act to show the world that they’re being “responsible”.
@23 & 28 TerMin4T0R:
Why shouldn’t China consume more oil than the US? They ARE still developing, not to mention that the country’s population more than QUADRUPLES that of the US.
Also, did you know that it is the legal responsibility of product designers to specify what types of paints are to be used on toys down to the the tiniest details? You do realise the toys with lead paint were all made under the Fisher-Price and Mattel brands…
For your information, the contaminated pet food had nothing to do with pig hooves and snouts, they injected a chemical called melamine to increase protein levels in order for them to demand a higher price on the market. There’s no regulation against it.
I’m Chinese and live in mainland China. I can tell you that in China where about 1.3 billion Chinese live, them foreigners see us as a golden opportunity to make more profits at our expense!
Nobody anywhere in the world would say, go to China to live an American lifestyle of waste, debt and most of all, capitalism!
That’s because in China, we cannot afford to waste 1.3 billion times anything. And another thing, what makes you foreigners think that you’re actually owning your ideas off innovation, being policed as IPR (intellectual property rights?
First, all innovation is always built upon prior innovation. Secondly, anytime you share your secret, it’s NOT a secret anymore. Ask yourself, do you want society to benefit or are you one of those capitalist that is hell bent upon selfish interest in making profits for yourself above all else?
The worse thing to happen to China has been those types of individuals to proclaim to be our saviors when in fact their nothing more than corrupted and greedy opportunist grabbing both power and money for themselves.
How is that any different than capitalist?
Bring back moral socialism!!!! Abolish all property, be patents, trademarks and copyrights!
Intellectual Property rights are selfish; they place the good of the one (the creator) over the good of the many (the audience). Instead of allowing a work to be improved and redistributed by those who may be more qualified than the original author, works are restricted in the name of monetary profit.
Just look at them Americans, 7 trillion in domestic debt, national debt and individual debt with credit cards, school loans and medical bills… for a country that claims to be a superpower, world leader…
They cannot even manage their own and think they have the right to tells us and everyone else how to live, what to do and we are all idiots accordingly to them…
Truth is IPR makes the poor work and serve the wealthy rich. As they deny all the benefits to the society, to control the markets while raping the economy.
How is it any different where you live? Want someone else telling you how to live your life? telling you you’re not allowed to share what helps and benefits society?
Capitalist are thieves of the peoples livelihood, labor and sacrifices…
Chairman Mao could not have said it better!
Wang ho you are an idiot for saying most
of those things.
Current 21st century invention and technological
development would not exist if it were not for
the Western capitalist system … and China would
still be cavemen in the stone age … with exception
of all their theft of blueprints and ideas.
However, you are right about some things:
ie America’s debt and imperialism. But let’s
be honest – China is completely forceful and
destroys the rights of human beings and choice.
China is also imperialistic and cares nothing
about the rest of the world in the global community.
Chinese communism is far from what you talk about
and is a selfish governmental structure that
rewards the rich and corrupt Communist officials
and judges. Bribery is for the success of
the rich while the poor people in China are
abused for their profit.
I’ll take the Western idea of freedom and capitolism
with all it’s flaws ANY DAY over what you argue
for and live in!
Shut up meh, you’re both as bad as each other, oooh i love china, oooh i love the west…idiots…
Money-grabbing scum is the same all over the world. They work together to take more money for less effort. They don’t care about countries or people, they care about money and power. All your arguing about what’s better is just a waste of breath. Rich greedy people feed their fat selves.
@ hgfhd “No you shut up hgfhd.”
You sound like a little kid.
IF YOU HAD READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH >>>
it says Western capitolism is better
” with ALL IT’s FLAWS”
Learn to read…intelligently.
this is so ironic. people in China pirate music because they’re poor, OK, but for what reasons do people running THIS SITE do the very same thing? why, because they’re born thieves? it’s very funny that accusations like that could possibly be made on a PIRATE SITE