As reported by the Associated Press, Baidu.com, has been sued by the Music Copyright Society of China a music industry group (the Group”), over alleged copyright violations.
According to the Group, Baidu.com provided “music listening, broadcasting and downloading services in various forms on its Web site without approval, and through unfettered piracy, earning huge advertising revenue on its huge number of hits.”
Baidu is China’s most popular search engine, with 60.1 percent of the sector’s revenues, according to Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm. Google Inc.’s China arm is in second place with 25.9 percent, and Yahoo Inc.’s China site is third with 9.6 percent.
The Group claims Baidu.com used 50 songs illegally and demands compensation. The alleged piracy forced legitimate online music providers to shut down, the industry group said.
It is the second such lawsuit against Baidu.
The International Federation of Phonographic Industries said early this month that several music publishers have sued Baidu, accusing it of aiding illicit online copying. The companies, which include Universal Music Ltd., Sony BMG Music Entertainment Ltd., Warner Music Hong Kong Ltd. and Hong Kong-based Gold Label Entertainment Ltd., demanded Baidu remove links to thousands of sites that carry unlicensed copies of music.
Interesting post there.
Those big Music publishing Corpseration like sony and others are being overprotective these days (they like to take anyone they have a chance to court and sue them).
The consumer which uses in this case listens to the music should decide what and how much to pay for each song and not the music publishers.
The so called artists are creating a song ONLY one time and get paid millions of $$$$ in royalities every time their song is being played in a movie or otherwise.
Dont’s get me wrong I LOVE music but there has to be line drawn how far this music publishers can go.