Yahoo China guilty of piracy

A CHINESE COURT has dubbed Yahoo's Chinese operation music piracy and demanded it pay the record companies the grand sum of $27,000 in damages.

The International Federation of Phonographic Industries accused Yahoo China of violating copyrights because its search engine linked to sites that carried 229 pirated songs.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that Number 2 Intermediate People's Court made the ruling on Monday.

Yahoo China said it would appeal and stressed its respect for intellectual property rights.

While the record companies might be patting themselves on the back over the ruling, one has to wonder how a search engine outfit like Yahoo ends up paying the same amount of damages that a college kid, or a dead grandmother gets charged for piracy by RIAA enforcers.

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