Recording Industry Tries Suing Another Chinese Search Engine, Despite Losing Last Suit
from the try,-try-again dept
If you have to give the recording industry credit for something, you can say that it's persistent in its misguided attempts to sue just about anyone. Setbacks don't seem to ever be analyzed, but simply ignored. For example, in 2005, the recording industry sued Chinese search engine Baidu for helping people find unauthorized copies of music -- which has been credited for a large chunk of Baidu's appeal to users. However, late last year, the courts found against the recording industry and in favor of Baidu. Apparently, the folks in the industry didn't bother to think about why, they just turned around and filed a similar lawsuit against Alibaba, a competitor to Baidu, who also happens to run Yahoo China.The worst part about this, though, is that if the recording industry ever stopped to look at what's actually happening in China, they might see all of the opportunities presented there. After all, China is famous for its rather lax views on intellectual property -- which, if you believed the recording industry and its supporters, should have killed off the local music industry. However, the reality is quite different. Musicians in China have learned to adapt to the marketplace, embracing the free promotional aspects of their music to help them sell other things. Knowing that the music itself will be available for free, many musicians encourage that, recognizing that it helps them sell many more concert tickets, and also has opened up new money making opportunities, such as sponsorship deals. Of course, the record labels generally doesn't get money from concerts and such -- but that was a (bad) business mistake they made in their contracts, rather than a larger issue that requires government protection.
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just stop
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check the contracts
I suspect that one would find that in China the recording industry only makes money doing the recording. Where in the US the industry has expanded its reach and used to have a solid grip on all aspects of an artist's career. And it is quite normal for organizations to fight to protect what they already have.
At this point they are most likely trying to recover something from the volumes of pirated material in China. That , and they are protecting their IP. The thing is that if you don't make adequate moves to protect your IP, you lose protection altogether.
Whether this suit is a good choice is a business decision really. And one factor (among others) is how much does the suit cost. But the legal beavers are also certainly trying to avoid whatever made them lose the last round. In the legal arena it is a mistake to focus on what is right instead of what is legal. And legality is often won and lost on technicalities. And technicalities can often be overcome with persistence.
Finally, it might be possible that they are now banded together with their last foe to cause distraction from the competition. They certainly wouldn't disclose such any more then absolutely required.
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Re: check the contracts
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Re: Re: check the contracts
I think what will help is for smaller (real) artists to get a group together to allow no cost playing of their music on the internet. Eventually the market will force the big five to conform.
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Re: Re: Re: check the contracts
Hell, if this group could get enough money together it may be possible to start a record label that is more of a paid membership deal that has no significant (if any) financial stake in the music itself allowing the artists to write what they please.
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a waste of time
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Re: a waste of time
$10.oo sez that the music industry as a whole will have a working model of our current system/distro consumer culture, just about the time that music is sold then down loaded in the store to your flash drive to be taken home and used as you see fit.
Then they will throw a tantrum over that too.
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this is one of those rare times
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