Baidu, Sohu And Yahoo China Face New Wave Of Music Lawsuits
The music industry is turning up the legal heat on Chinese websites it reckons are flouting its IP. First, Universal, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG and Warner have filed suit against Baidu, China’s biggest web portal, demanding it remove links to music files around the web. Second, Hong Kong-based EMI spin-off Gold Label Entertainment joins the trio for similar action against Sohu and its Sogou multimedia search site. And third, labels say Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) China “has still not complied” with the Beijing Higher People’s Court’s April ruling to remove its deep music links.
Labels lost a January appeal against a December decision that Baidu (NSDQ: BIDU) is not breaking music copyright law, but the IFPI music industry umbrella reckons a precedent has been set by the Yahoo China ruling, which saw the company fined 200,000 yuan ($27,140) and which Yahoo failed to overturn. The Baidu case may have failed but the labels defeated Yahoo on new laws introduced in 2006 that can hold services liable even for content they point to.
So now, “after months of fruitless negotiations,” the labels are having another go under the new law, filing in Beijing’s No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court. IFPI: “Each of (the sites) is a driver of copyright abuse in China, where the huge potential for the online music sector is being stymied by copyright theft.” IFPI said it wrote in January to “officers and directors” of Yahoo in the US, which owns 44 percent of Yahoo China along with Alibaba, asking them to comply with the earlier ruling - but it’s now asked the court to enforce compliance.
- Video: Meanwhile, the Chinese government has ruled that video sharing sites formed before January 31 can continue operating under license as long as they don’t broadcast illegal content. More at Media Network.
Related StoriesPosted In: Entertainment, Music, Legal, Companies, Yahoo, Countries, Asia, China, baidu, sohu
Newsletter
Comments (2)
Feb 6, 2008 1:33 AM
A representative for ASCAP once bragged to me that his group was the biggest single litigator in America and had more ongoing suits than anyone else.
He told me this as he prepared to sue a small cafe in my Colorado home of 700 people for not paying past and present royalties on the songs played by a small group that jammed there on weekends.
The amount asked threatened to close the doors and end one of our few ways to recreate during he skiing off-season.
It is the job of ASCP, BMI and others to chase down royalties. As an artist I am against IP theft, but I am not as quick as others to judge either litigant until all facts are heard.
China is the country we love to hate these days and Baidu is painted as a conspiratorial provider of safe haven for internet pirates—all of whom are Chinese if you buy the hype—when the jury has not yet been convened.
I am waiting for more facts before I rush to judgment and I am not gullible enough to believe that Baidu leads the way in IP theft….
I wonder how much the RIAA, SONY, and BMG lawyers are making by riding a xenophobic wave to international publicity???
Feb 11, 2008 3:01 PM
Thanks, a lot of important information. China on it’s way to international standards… http://www.internet-markt-china.de