MPAA Sues Firm For Loading Legally Owned DVDs Onto iPods

Baidu Wins Copyright Case Against Record Labels

from the gavel-goes-bang dept

Fri, Nov 17th 2006 7:30am — Carlo Longino

Chinese search site Baidu has attracted a lot of attention since it announced plans for an IPO a couple of years ago, not just because it's the country's most popular search engine, but because a lot of that popularity -- and what separated it from Google -- came from its pointing users to illegal copies of music. Inevitably, Baidu got sued, both by Chinese companies and the IFPI, the international equivalent of the RIAA, but it's been announced that Baidu won the case against the IFPI. Details are a little sketchy because the ruling itself hasn't been released, just the verdict. The IFPI alleged that Baidu's deep linking to MP3s was a breach of copyright, but it's not clear why deep linking rules change if the link is to a music file instead of an HTML one. It's also not clear why Baidu, which is just a search engine, would be liable, since it's not hosting the files itself. Anyhow, the case is probably far from over: the IFPI, of course, plans to appeal, and Baidu's not likely to give up the fight so easily. After all, to do so would be to give up on one of its biggest competitive advantages.

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6 Comments

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Carlo, 17 Nov 2006 @ 7:40am

Baidu Wins Copyright Case Against Record Labels
This is just great. Its amazing how the RIAA its its foreign equivilants try to bully others around. These organizations are a joke. Why I wait for themto come out on cable then record them to DVD.They are a stupid organization in my opinion
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Nov 2006 @ 9:58am

Re: Baidu Wins Copyright Case Against Record Label
you wait for music to come out on cable and then record it to a DVD... ...that seems a little extreme :P
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Mike, 17 Nov 2006 @ 10:17am

Re: Re: Baidu Wins Copyright Case Against Record L
you wait for music to come out on cable and then record it to a DVD... ...that seems a little extreme :P

Maybe so, but it effectively keeps our $$ away from the **AA. :)
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Nov 2006 @ 12:12pm

you wait for music to come out on cable and then record it to a DVD... ...that seems a little extreme :P

nah, that's not extreme at all. i could see how it would SEEM extreme to a person, if said person is willing to let greedy corporations with huge legal fronts effectively fuck them up the ass with the splintery end of a broken-in-half broom handle...also, i think he meant movies, not music...
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mkam, 20 Nov 2006 @ 3:55am

Re: Re: Re: Baidu Wins Copyright Case Against Reco
Doesn't that just mean that comcast or whomever has paid off the **AA? They still have their money for the music which has traveled from your hand to the cable company to them.
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Jacques Mattheij, 4 Jan 2008 @ 3:41am

shocking
that the Chinese would have more sensible laws when it comes to stuff like this than the so-called enlightened west.

It's high time that copyright got re-thought in a drastic manner or we'll all end up being criminals in the long run.
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