Baidu Wins Again; Chinese Court Finds No Copyright Infringement In Linking To Music
from the maybe-the-ifpi-should-withdraw-from-china dept
One of the biggest reasons why Baidu has been so popular in China is because it helps people find music to download. Of course, it mostly finds unauthorized tracks, and once Baidu became a public company, the lawsuits quickly followed. Baidu won, but the record labels/IFPI sued again. However, once again, it appears to be for naught, as a court has ruled in favor of Baidu, saying that just linking to infringing content isn't infringing itself, and pointing out that the IFPI failed to point to a specific site that was actually hosting the infringing content. While I think that the basic reasoning behind the ruling (just linking to infringing content shouldn't be considered infringing) makes sense, there actually is a fair amount of evidence that Baidu is a lot more involved in actually hosting and hiding the content itself. Of course, you also have to wonder how much the fact that Baidu is a Chinese company, and the IFPI represents foreign labels, played into the way this has turned out. Perhaps the IFPI could take a page from Google's book and "leave" China as well.
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Filed Under: baidu, china, copyright, infringement
Companies: baidu, ifpi
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A Society...
A society with no religion, no green/clean/eco, no IP laws and no war.
A heaven for science, industry , information and commerce.
Ridiculous that a crippled bankrupt country across the sea is trying to push it into some idiotic democracy which wouldn't fit it in a million years.
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Re: A Society...
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The state has that copyright, apparently.
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Re: A Society...
define war please
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Re: A Society...
Buddhist temples are widespread in China, and very popular places to visit as the lunar new year comes by. I burned a little incense last week, a bit early but well intentioned. Many of these temples are not only religious shrines, but also attract many tourists each year.
Green? I would say that 10 - 20% of the moped style scooters I see in China are electric. Danyang makes a number of models, very popular with commuters.
IP laws? They have plenty. Few of them are enforced. There is too much pushing and shoving on the issues between the central government and the provinces, as the provincial leaders often appear to profit directly or indirectly through IP abuses.
War? Let's just say that the chinese military is often busy, just not in ways that make headlines.
You did get the science and industry part right. China should click off another 10% growth year in 2010, even with the brakes on the economy harder and harder all the time.
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Re: Re: A Society...
Quick, sue him. That's your job!
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A society with no religion
Except Buddhism Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, and Christianity (to name a few).
no green/clean/eco
Unless you count the wind farms, the hydroelectric power dams, and the high poverty levels where most people can not afford otherwise.
no IP laws and no war.
Apart from the Intellectual property rights, and decrees in the areas of trademark, copyright and patents. And has been a member of the WIPO since 1980.
As for war? I seem to remember a little spat over in Tibet not too long ago. Hundreds killed, soldiers involved in military actions, stuff like that.
A heaven for science, industry , information and commerce.
Which industries? State run industries where employees are given small stipends and allowances that barely cover the costs of living? Or the foreign owned companies which are staffed by over worked, under paid workers with little choice? Or are you referring to the smaller, yet rising Middle Class of more affluent and professional people? Perhaps you mean the thousands of relocated and displaced people who couldn't afford to re-establish their former businesses?
Information is tightly controlled by the Government. Communications outlets (phone, mail and internet) are regularly screened. Any discoveries made in science labs or development firms are quickly classified "State Secrets," and locked down, and if it weren't for a number of Western and East Asian companies opening businesses in China in the past 30 years, commerce would have continued to stagnate.
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Yahoo!
About China:
China weapons sales fuel conflicts around the world
Chinese wars since 1368 not counting the historic wars from ancient China that were before the Sinotization process
1949: Yangtze incident (the battle against British warships on the Yangtze river).
1954 to 1955: First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
1958: Second Taiwan Strait Crisis at Quemoy and Matsu.
1967: Chola incident with India.
1965 to 1970: Vietnam War (over 320,000 Chinese soldiers served in North Vietnam).
1969 to 1978: Sino-Soviet border conflict.
1974: Battle of the Paracel Islands.
1986 and 1988: Border and naval skirmishes with Vietnam.
1995 to 1996: Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.
1997 PLA Control of Hong Kong's Military Defense
Sinicization of others religions and ethinic groups inside China
Not to mention that is a process that been happening since before China even was a country.
China today is recouping some scientific prestige but others in the region are far ahead of them, China have a tremendous amount of poor people that revolt frequently and nobody seems to notice inside but on the outside people get glimpses of what China state run government really is, maybe that is why they are so worried about image, but one thing is certain China is all about terminating other cultures inside its borders, they don't take notice of small groups but once you gain any prominence they will move quickly to destroy it to preserve the "chinese identity" and that is not a new thing either it comes from millennia back that alone should worry people because it is a xenophobic vision of the world and it is ingrained inside that society those who understand chinese and read forums can clearly see how discriminatory the normal chinese citizen is, and that also reflects on how companies operate inside China, they don't respect you if you are not chinese no matter what the propaganda says you will not get the same treatment as a chinese company ever for good or for worst this is China.
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Double Standards?
They seem to treat different areas differently for the exact same idea of linking to stuff. Be it freedom blogs or imaginary property and whether the Chinese are the attackers or the defenders. Interesting.
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