Los Angeles – A coalition of music industry trade groups has
penned an open letter to Chinese search engine leader Baidu (NASD: BIDU), via the Financial
Times, which pleads for the company to combat piracy by filtering links to unauthorized
music files from its search results.
Parties to the letter included
international major record label trade group the International Federation of
the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), along with the China Music Industry Committee
(CMIC); World Independent Network (WIN); and International Confederation of
Music Publishers (ICMP).
"Our members want to partner with and invest in
China’s digital revolution, but they cannot do so while the music service run
by the dominant internet company, Baidu, facilitates infringement of the rights
of artists and creators online," the letter states.
"Baidu is the
biggest source of this problem, with its MP3 music search service estimated to
be responsible for over 50% of infringing music distribution in China."
The music industry groups, which recently lost a major court case against
Baidu over its "deep links" to music files, are now publicly appealing to
the company to filter its search results.
"[Baidu] has the means to bring
immediate change by proactively filtering infringing works from this service."
The letter also notes that the U.S. government recently listed Baidu among
"notorious markets" for unauthorized distribution of copyrighted
works, adding that "the continued widespread abuse of the intellectual
property of Chinese and international rights owners is a dark cloud hanging
over the country’s e-commerce miracle."
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/5ruw7tq
(Financial Times)
http://tinyurl.com/4m6yrjd
(PaidContent)
