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February 28, 2008 6:35 AM PST
Chinese music industry groups file suit against Baidu
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The move signaled that domestic artists as well as international firms are disgruntled at the firm's free music search service.
Baidu, whose search engine allows users to listen to and search for song files for free, is taking advantage of China's relatively unsophisticated music industry to boost its advertising income, the Music Copyright Society of China and digital-music distributor R2G said in a statement.
The firms had filed a suit in Beijing in January, and are calling for Baidu to immediately halt copyright violations and offer compensation, the statement added, but it did not give further details.
"This lawsuit is just the beginning," the statement quoted Music Copyright Society executive Qu Jingming of China as saying.
A Baidu representative could not be reached for comment.
Baidu led China's 946.6 million yuan ($133 million) search engine market in last year's fourth quarter with a 60.1 percent share, according to research firm Analysys International.
Google came in second, with a 25.9 percent share, followed by Yahoo China, with 9.6 percent.
Earlier this month, three global record companies launched legal proceedings against Baidu, accusing it of violating copyright by giving access to music files.
Universal Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong), and Warner Music Hong Kong have asked a court to order Baidu to remove all links on its music delivery service to tracks that they own the rights to, the international record industry organization IFPI said.
IFPI has said more than 99 percent of all music files distributed in China are pirated and that the country's total legitimate music market, at $76 million, accounts for less than 1 percent of global recorded music sales.
Story Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
copyright laws, who are the winners & losers? Obvs, Google and
local Chinese musicians/copyright holders benefit the most. A
long-awaited decision against Baidu would finally help Google to
compete on a level, more legally-sound playing field. I suspect
Yahoo China could suprise GOOG and use their local presence
to overtake the internet giant but this seems unlikely. Meanwhile
Baidu still has the name recognition with older, rural & first-time
internet users in China and will prove a formidable opponent
even without extra-legal downloads of mp3 music.