Tuesday, 20 September 2005

Chinese Internet Search Engine, Baidu, to Stop the Music

Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com Inc. on Monday said a Beijing court ordered the company to stop providing music downloading services as part of a copyright infringement suit brought by Shanghai Busheng Music Culture Media Co. The company, which was fined RMB 68,000 (USD 8,407), said it would appeal.

"We believe that the district court order was based on a misunderstanding of the search engine technology and therefore is without merit," the company's lawyer Decheng Li of Beijing law firm Zhonglun W&D said in a statement.

Separately, the four largest music labels - Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group Plc and Warner Music Group - are suing Baidu for copyright infringement because the company, known as the Chinese Google, provides the links to the download services.

Baidu said in the statement that it provides search services, but not downloading services.