Chinese search engines come under copyright attack

THE INTERNATIONAL Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said it has launched legal proceedings against several companies, in China including search oufits Baidu and Yahoo, which it claims are "committing mass copyright infringement".

The body admits that neither Baidu nor Yahoo stores or trades in music but reckons the fact that they link to sites trading in copyrighted material makes them very naughty boys.

China's music business is based on "blatant violation of copyright laws", the IFPI, which represents the major record labels, said.

It said it had been engaged in "months of fruitless negotiations," with Baidu but had given up and gone bleating to its lawyer instead. "Separate actions have also been brought against Sohu and its associate company Sogou," the body said in a statement.

It added that Yahoo China faces fresh proceedings, "following its refusal to comply with a landmark ruling in December that it violated Chinese law by committing mass copyright infringement."

Baidu is China's biggest search engine, well ahead of Google which can claim around 20 per cent of the market compared to Baidu's 70 per cent.

Baidu also offers an MP3 search engine, which really gets up the IFPI's nose. Copying is part of the culture in China, however, another thing that annoys the copyright cops. µ