[January 26, 2010] Record Companies Again Lose Lawsuit against Baidu Tweet BEIJING, Jan 26, 2010 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) again lost a lawsuit against Baidu Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU) for MP3 copyright infringement. A local court in Beijing judges that Baidu is legal in providing MP3 search service, turning down the lawsuit filed by Universal Music Group (UMG), SONY BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong), and Warner/Wea. Currently, Baidu's MP3 search service is very popular among Chinese Internet users. The company holds a share of more than 80% of China's online music search market. The court believes that Baidu provides music search service for Internet users, not pirated MP3 contents. Hence, the company has no obligation to compensate record companies for their losses from piracy. A lawyer of the Beijing Lawyers Association points out that search engines have not infringed the music copyright of record companies. Instead, they help the latter find pirated contents more promptly, and make a success in the burgeoning Internet industry. Source: www.shihua.com.cn (January 26, 2010) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]