Beijing – Leading Chinese search engine Baidu (NASD: BIDU) is expected to
launch Ting, a new legal music download store, later this month, PC World
reported, citing a company spokeswoman.
Baidu has been criticized by the major
record labels for its search engine that provides "deep links" to
unauthorized MP3s hosted on third-party sites.
Last year, the labels lost a
copyright infringement case they filed against Baidu over its MP3 Search
service in 2008.
Record label trade group IFPI also unsuccessfully sued Baidu
in 2005.
The U.S. Trade Representative has also labeled the site a
"notorious market" for pirated works.
Last month, Baidu announced a
deal to begin paying songwriters for tracks downloaded via its search service,
but that deal did not include payments to record labels.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3gmdbdc
(PC World)
http://tinyurl.com/43jhcel
(DMW previous coverage)
