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IFPI Loses “Deep-Linking” Case Against Baidu

In 2008, Baidu was sued for around $9 million by Sony BMG, Universal Music and Warner Music for providing so-called “deep-links” to copyright music tracks. A court has now ruled that providing search results does not breach copyright law, clearing China’s biggest search engine of wrong-doing.

Search engine Baidu.com is not only China’s biggest, but also a major player globally. It recently grabbed headlines when it was hacked by the ‘Iranian cyber army’, the same outfit that took Twitter offline in December.

Baidu has become increasingly popular with the Chinese population for its MP3 indexing abilities. While its “MP3 Search” provides algorithm-generated links to millions of undoubtedly illicit copyright tracks hosted by others (so-called “deep-linking”), Baidu has always insisted that the provision of such links alone is entirely legal. Needless to say, IFPI, the global music group, disagrees strongly with this assertion.

“The music industry in China wants partnership with the technology companies – but you cannot build partnership on the basis of systemic theft of copyrighted music and that is why we have been forced to take further actions,” said John Kennedy, Chairman and Chief Executive of IFPI, in a February 2008 statement.

Bolstered by an earlier ruling against Yahoo China, by further actions Kennedy unsurprisingly meant “legal actions.” In early 2008, IFPI (Sony BMG, Universal Music and Warner Music) sued Baidu.com for $9m. Today the result of that case has been made public.

Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court has cleared Baidu on accusations of copyright infringement, with a court statement showing that simply providing search results does not breach Chinese copyright law. According to lawyer Sun Yan, the case against the search giant fell because IFPI failed to identify the actual sites hosting the illegal music downloads.

IFPI has challenged Baidu – and lost – in the Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court before. In September 2005, IFPI filed claims regarding nearly 200 music tracks it claimed were made available via Baidu. In 2006, the Court ruled Baidu was not infringing copyright. IFPI appealed to the Beijing Higher People’s Court which upheld the earlier ruling.

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  • Anonymous

    All i can say is lawl

    Btw – #1 New Zealand FTW!

  • klitoratii

    #2 also New Zealand! shame sony universal and warner!

  • Unauthorized Content Consumer

    Awww…they lost.

    boohoo xD

  • Anonymous

    Baidu is backed by some powerful people in China, the IFPI had no chance of winning from the beginning.

  • http://www.eZee.se www.eZee.se

    Some people need coffee to feel the buzz and start their day,
    all i need to read is IFPI and the cartels got bitch slapped and its like having a red bull + a coffee.

    Thank you TF, I’ll have my waffles now please :))

  • Vyp

    Suck shit IFPI, work on digital business models and maybe you wont have to waste so much money and people’s time arguing bullshit claims that mean nothing in the technology world. Come on guys find a new system that suits your consumers not the bank accounts of the labels you represent. Abolish all music distribution by the old formula and bring the digital age to the people! When will these greed greedy record companies start listening to the people who buy the fucking music! I am totally sick of all this crap… Hopefully they will all go bankrupt soon, after ripping off people for decades. If you are interested in your customers you might find ways of rectifying this situation. Ok, let’s have a boycott day Feb 2nd, 2010 where noone in the world buys a cd let’s see what impact it makes on these idiots. Artist are being ripped off by these very people..

  • klitoratii

    Imagine what it would be like if the anti-piracy lobbies around the world actually spent all these millions that they’re throwing away in court on fixing all the problems consumers have with them. Replacing CDs & DVDs with something viable would be a start (something small and protected that doesn’t suffer disc rot). By implementing new distrubution channels & actually listening to their customers and the artists they represent instead of alienating them to the point where piracy increases. D O U C H E B A G S.

  • .

    To Anonymous and other one sided peeps

    Obvious bigot is obvious

  • kabuki0009

    Too bad lol

  • ha ha ha ha

    all i can say is FAIL!

  • Pingback: Mentok. Mindtaker. Heartbreaker.

  • AnarchyNow

    When will the MAFIAA sue Google & others big search engines?
    When will they sue/shut down rabidshit and gagadsload (rapidshare/megaupload for those with no sense of humour)?

    MAFIAA = cowards whining for money while never giving anything back.

  • Comeoncomcast (aka Andrew)

    More IFPI fails to come, I hope hehe xD

  • djc

    Fuck the IFPI and their USA cousin the RIAA. May they soon rot in hell for an eternity :)

  • Ben Ben

    Isn’t there any sort of legal action we, the p2p community, can take against the MAFIAA?
    Like accusing them for repeatedly obtaining private information through illegal ways for profiteering or pointing out the intimidation methods they constantly use as if they were the gestapo or …….. anything? There has to be something.
    Is there a lawyer in the house?

  • TerribleTony

    Epic waste of musicians money.

  • jasper100

    indeed^^^^

  • gorehound

    IFPI =
    Ignorant Fucken People with no Intelligence

  • Ben Ben

    Epic waste of musicians work. They sign all the rights to their creations to huge corporations who do as they please with them. The majority of musicians barely benefit from CD sales and end up being as exploited by the labels as their creations. Then the labels go around the world suing everybody for more profits. I think I am beginning to see a pattern emerge somewhere in here.

  • Anonymous

    I’m torn here.
    Corrupt government or corrupt corporation, I’ll go with the latter on this one

  • LoL

    Shows China has, perhaps, a more mature attitude to the net and this endless “copyright protection” fraud by the movie / recording lobby groups than either Europe or USA

  • Anonymous

    Have to express some skepticism when considering China’s “progressive” attitude about the net. I mean for pete’s sake they banned porn!

  • Reasoned Mind

    To you, ifpi losers, Beijing is No.1 ^_^

  • Ben Ben

    @17 Anonymous
    The corporations control the government so one and the same.
    Fan fact, Ford is bigger than South Africa and Toyota is bigger than Denmark. How many countries are bigger than the coalition between Sony, Warner and Universal? The use of the word “big” here translates to financially powerful (pulling the strings).

  • PT

    But the corrupt corperation has been deserving of this for many years and thankfully we don’t live where our gov is less corrupt than theirs……

  • PT

    But the corrupt corperation has been deserving of this for many years and thankfully we live where our gov is less corrupt than theirs……

  • Ninja

    LoL, in the face. Epic fail hahaha

    I don’t like Chine. But this shows it just takes more power than MAFIAA (ie: a whole country) to slap them in the face.

    MAFIAA usually goes for sure wins, they must have smoked some pot b4 trying this one lol.

  • Anonymous

    Excellent. Always glad to see the IFPI slapped down. They’re almost as bad as the RIAA, it seems.

    Preemptive @Reasoned Mind/neo

    Obvious troll is obvious.

  • Reasoned Mind

    I wonder what Raisin Brain will have to say.

    If the pirates wouldn’t be moved an inch. What to speak of the mighty Dragon!

    Hi Raisin Brain. Are you there? ^_^

  • William

    I think it’s terrible that this company is making a profit by enabling people to commit crime.
    They are as bad as the people who make blank CDs. And big hard drives. And internet cables. And Google. And encryption with which crime is encrypted.
    And the people who make guns. And the people who make rope. And the people who make knives. And the people who make get away cars. And the people who make roads. And the people who make tights and balaclavas.

    ..Get my drift?

  • Newsflash

    pwned!

    preemptive @reasoned mind/no style/martin/et. al.

    Obvious troll is obvious.

  • Anonymous

    so time to relocate trackers to China?

  • DefaultUser

    hahahaha @ IFPI

    suckaaaaaa

  • lala land

    and i always said that red china was only good on a pink table cloth …

    the first piece of common sense
    courtroom politics … It’s a search engine, just link zoink.it or tpb

  • lala land

    @26

    na! they don’t do pot … they prefer large fancy capital letters, you know, things like LSD

    The bunch of bone heads!

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  • Emule Team

    @29 aka reason mind, obvious troll is obvious

    Should we ban everything? I remember one case where the cartel friends wanted to ban talking because you could possibly mention something (anything) and someone could search (term used case was google it) for what ever was mentioned & may find a pirated copy of whatever was mentioned. I don’t expect this case for talking to win either. Reason Mind aka William how about you be next and show us by example not to talk by not talking. In other words put your foot where your mouth is and don’t talk, since you are against others doing talking as well or lead by example to simplify.

  • Giuliano

    Google MP3 Search, NOW!

  • here hear

    “Baidu is backed by some powerful people in China, the IFPI had no chance of winning from the beginning.”

    ahh, the taste of ones own medicine. :)

  • Anonymous

    @35

    I’m preeeeetty sure that #29 was being sarcastic…

    Then again, according to neo’s law, you can’t create a parody of anti-piracy that someone won’t mistake for the real thing…

  • Dude

    Hahahahahahahahaha!

    preemptive @reasoned mind/no style/martin/et al.

    Obvious troll is obvious.

  • maturity

    its not just about them losing money from sales, they are also losing minds. less and less people are focusing on the spoon fed media from radio mtv etc… probaly causing some problems with their predicted demographics, target markets, etc. its a web of commerce thats being affected, not just an isolated market.

  • X

    Lol? Their is no such thing as copyright in a communist country since well… you don’t own anything to begin with.

  • Anonymous

    I think this outcome is most likely from after effect of US criticy china internet privacy

  • Rog

    hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

    ROFL, in your face IFPI scum !!!

  • John Ruex

    Hey mafiaa maybe it was this . I seen in another thread on tf. 87 Jan 26, 2010 at 11:06 by pirate

    @55 all you have to do is watch this documentary on bill clinton
    to see how he sold out the usa to china.
    its a must,if you have not seen it or question the ammount of CORRUPTION IN THE USA GOVERMENT.
    http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-6107885031407830500#

  • neostyles

    Why am I not surprised? China already has a huge history of sponsoring piracy. Most Cities are filled with vendors selling bootlegged goods.. and the government doesn’t even raise a finger. China is like some huge cash drain.. Peope’s profits just flow right down it an disappear, never to be heard from again. I seem to remember the world trade organisation citing china as a country that has failed to uphold copyright
    http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2008/asset_upload_file192_15258.pdf

    US companies should stop exporting goods to china. They should call it the People’s Republic of Theft.

  • Anonymous

    @35 by Emule Team

    These corporate parasites are now so extreme that it is difficult to distinguish between their parodied opinion and the real one!

  • Anonymous

    Corporates parasites:

    Let’s kill them all!

  • Anonymous

    Oh wow no Reason Troll comments yet.

  • prodigydancer

    Here goes the second strike… ;-)

  • Anonymous

    @48

    As certain as death and taxes, we will have anti-piracy trolls hit articles about defeats for Big Content so they can whine about it. Can’t grant those evul pirates rights, now can we?

    Just give it time… they’ll appear. And be laughed at for their idiocy.

  • Pingback: The IFPI can suck it

  • .neo.styles|nvDX

    There is a reason why Google doesn’t have an MP3 search. MP3 searching is merely a sophisticated way to steal an artist’s work. How would you feel if at the end of a workweek, you go to get your paycheck from your employer and they said, “Sorry, too much product was stolen this week, I can’t pay you as much..”, how would you like that?
    The anti-piracy groups are nothing more than collection agencies. If you take money out of someone’s pocket, they want it back and are usually willing to pay someone a small percentage to get it. Piracy is theft. Plain and simple. Pirates are thieves. If you want to be a pirate, do it the real way, don’t try to live in country that has legal authority over you and dance around, or break the society’s laws.

  • d[iO]nysus

    AQUITTED BY CHINESE

  • Anonymous

    @51

    See? Just like I predicted. Anti-pirate whining.

    Anyway.

    Your post, #51, has been analyzed and determined to be

    [x] misleading
    [] FUD
    [x] trolling

    on the basis of the fact that you have (check all that apply)

    [x] compared the downloading of a digital file with the theft of a physical object and/or called file sharing “stealing”
    [] vastly exaggerated financial losses to rights holders due to file sharing
    [] insisted that file sharing is killing the music/movie/software/book industries
    [] stated that file sharing harms honest artists by depriving them of needed revenue
    [] said that without copyright, there would be no incentive to create or innovate
    [] implied or explicitly stated that artists should have absolute, permanent control over their creative works
    [] supported unjust punishments for copyright infringement that do not fit the offense
    [] supported unjust, expensive and invasive anti-piracy laws and measures
    [x] defended the entertainment industries and/or excused an immoral or illegal action of theirs
    [x] implicitly or explicitly attacked fair use, right of first sale, and/or the public domain

    and you have done this despite the fact that (check all that apply)

    [] effectively enforcing copyright on the Internet is difficult, time-consuming and expensive
    [] changing laws to allow easy, effective enforcement of copyright on the Internet would breach peoples’ privacy and fair use rights
    [] overly broad and restrictive copyright has been demonstrated to harm society and restrict creativity and innovation
    [x] copyright infringement is no more theft than trespassing
    [] the modern implementation of intellectual property rights favors large corporations over individuals
    [x] just because something is illegal does not mean it’s wrong
    [x] the financial losses to file sharing have been challenged and no solid evidence has appeared to support the claims of massive losses
    [] Internet Service Providers have no desire to spend millions of dollars to police their networks and drive away customers
    [x] one download of a copyrighted work does not equal one lost sale
    [] any financial losses from file sharing are incurred by publishers and distributors as opposed to artists and creators
    [x] artists may in fact benefit from file sharing as it gives greater exposure which leads to greater sales and a large fanbase
    [x] it has been repeatedly demonstrated that people who download will also buy more
    [x] some industries, such as the motion picture industry, are bringing in record profits despite file sharing
    [x] due to regional lockout and the entertainment industries’ resistance to change, some people have no choice but to pirate content
    [] a large amount of free and legal content exists online, proving that people will create even if there’s no financial incentive
    [] you have failed to cite any sources for your arguments, particularly those dependent on data.

    In conclusion, I advise you to:
    [] review the fundamental intent of intellectual property law
    [x] actually read the article you commented on
    [x] actually respond to the arguments that others make against you
    [x] apply basic ethics and morality to your future posts
    [x] sodomize yourself with a retractable baton.

    Obvious troll is obvious.

  • Black Swan Social Media, Inc.

    @.neo.styles|nvDX

    You sir, never cease to amaze me. Does it even occur to you that the premise upon which your argument is based is in fact faulty? The very foundation of your above statement assumes that all MP3s are released without authorization from the artists, and therefore all free distribution of MP3s should be outlawed.

    Do you see a problem with you’re argument, .neo.? Both Cadence Weapon, Johnathan Emile, and dozens of other artists release their albums for free, without restriction. You are essentially calling for the criminalization of their generosity, and labeling them criminals. Your arguments call for an unrealistic approach to this so-called ‘piracy problem,’ when in fact what you should be channeling your energy toward is actually a ‘competition problem’ on the part of audio-visual industries.

    Unfortunately, all you and those industries are doing is giving a target for unhappy consumers to rally against, thus creating your own problem.

  • Ben Ben

    @51 .neo.styles|nvDX
    When I was hired by my job I signed a contract which pretty much says that as long as I work I get a paycheck. If something gets stolen I still get my paycheck and my boss gets a new security system until he learns not to con people with ridiculous prices and outdated sale methods which the consumer just doesn’t want anymore. I am sure the labels can somehow apply this to their field of work as well.

    @53 Anonymous
    Rock on.

  • zod

    ohh bravo, 53 Jan 26, 2010 at 21:40 by Anonymous

    i simply must applaud you Sir, very well played indeed old chap

    ..how much humiliation can Neo take harr harr

    could i suggest 1 more category for your fine template – out right lies

  • Unauthorized Content Consumer

    Oh and uh…buaHAHAHAHA!!!!

  • chaos

    @53: awesome ^^

    I would recommend another statement though:
    Misuse of the term/definition of a “pirate”

    “Piracy is a war-like act committed by private parties (not affiliated with any government) that engaged in acts of robbery and/or criminal violence at sea” (wikipedia)

    I must admit though, that neo got it right this time: “Piracy is theft. Plain and simple. Pirates are thieves.” So yeah, by definition, pirates are thieves (or robbers, if you want so).
    But as I can’t think of any actual file-sharers that commit acts of robbery and/or criminal violence AT SEA, I suppose they’re not pirates. Too bad :(

  • JK’s Anal Pickle

    Haha, yes, and there’s a good answer to why Google’s having a problem with Chinese censorship, far from moralistic arguments for the people’s ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’, rather that China won’t actively engage in censorship of access to commercial media as is common in the west, and so Google can’t ever compete with Baidu on an even ground.

    LOL. Go, Baidu!

    Baidu should offer an HTTPS link to baidu.cn, and alternative language templates, and they may see a fair number of western people switch to using the Baidu service, too. ;)

    Diddums, IFPI… :(

  • Grok

    Yet more frivolous lawsuits from companies eager to waste money trying to hamfist the law into obeying them than give it to the artists who earned it.

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  • JK’s Anal Pickle

    Haha, yes, and there’s a good answer to why Google’s having a problem with Chinese censorship, far from moralistic arguments for the people’s ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’, rather that China won’t actively engage in censorship of access to commercial media as is common in the west, and so Google can’t ever compete with Baidu on an even ground.

    LOL. Go, Baidu!

    Baidu should offer an HTTPS link to baidu.cn, and alternative language templates, and they may see a fair number of western people switch to using the Baidu service, too. ;)

    Diddums, IFPI… :(

  • Anonymous

    @Reasoned Mind’s other screen name
    “There is a reason why Google doesn’t have an MP3 search.”

    Yeah, and the reason is that it’s already so easy to find MP3s using Google that it would be redundant for them to add an MP3 search category.

    For example, try Googling for ‘beatles torrent mp3′. Or ‘”parent directory” mp3′. Or ‘google filetype mp3′.

    No matter how hard you pretend that Google is different from The Pirate Bay, you can’t turn it into a reality.

    @Reasoned Mind’s other screen name
    “Piracy is theft. Plain and simple. Pirates are thieves.”

    Aren’t you tired of telling that lie yet? You must be. Sure, the paycheck you recieve from the MAFIAA probably makes it easier. But you have to be pretty worn out at this point.

    How do you cope with it? Drugs? Alcohol? Or do you actually not cope with it and cry yourself to sleep every night?

    The life of a paid shill. It’s tough. :(

    Oh yeah, and for the record: Theft is when you take someone’s property away from them without their consent. Filesharing is when you virtually replicate a piece of property and then take only the replicated copy, which fails completely to qualify as theft for the obvious reason that nobody has had their property taken away from them, virtual or otherwise.

    You lose. Again.

  • Unauthorized Content Consumer

    I want my MP3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • chaos

    @61: Piracy is indeed theft (or robbery if you want). But filesharing isn’t piracy, soooo, filesharing isn’t stealing either

  • SirReal

    May I complement @53 on a very well written template.
    And I just gained some more respect for China, well done indeed.

  • josh

    I’m amazed that IFPI thought they could take on the world’s superpower that is the PRC. The chinese government does not give a shit about file sharing in the copyright aspect, more so their extreme censorship. They should take their office out of Hong Kong and “sodomize themselves with a retractable baton”.

  • Heart

    I like to lick poo.

  • Anonymous

    @58

    I will add such a part right now. :)

    @all other complimenters

    Thanks. I call it the Refute Neostyles/Reasoned Mind In Less Than Two Minutes template. Well, not really; I just made that up. But that’s basically what it does. All the power to counter the trolls and none of the work needed to post individual, lengthly responses that will just be ignored!

  • Morons Breed Morons

    @.neo

    I suggest you take a second look.. it’s really not that hard to append filetype:MP3 to the end of your google searches.. think before you speak.

    also.. obvious troll is obvious :D

  • Unauthorized Content Consumer

    I’m still *face palming* at the thought of anyone expecting to force a dictatorship country to change their ways when the country uses armoured tanks to run over and crush the skulls of innocent students.

    Hmm. The Chinese government seems to care about students the same way the RIAA/MPAA does.

    I sure wish the Chinese government would use armoured tanks and crush the skulls of the RIAA/MPAA. *sigh*

  • East_Doesn’t_Care

    China, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam, oh heck, Asia doesn’t give a flying toss about the concept of copyright or patents when it’s western ideas that they’re pirating, this is why any attempt by western companies to get the respective governments to stop the pirating is futile, oh there might be a token gesture here and there, like occasionally they will make a big deal about a “huge pile of discs” which they then pompously drive over with a steam roller. Walk into ANY shopping mall in Asia and you WILL be approached for the sale of ANY software, movie or music available at a pittance, as it should be, heck, even the tiny third world Island I live on has movies and music for sale at $1.
    Good Buy MAFIAA

  • 5318008

    Links to copyrighted works? Sounds like any given internet search. Sure, I know there are differences. But the principles are similar IMO. Why not sue Google, because you can search for files that way? e-Tards.

  • 5318008

    Also, #70 and #71, suck it.

  • All of Reasoned Mind’s names

    I just took a big fart and I liked how it smelled. It reminded me of that other time I liked how my farts smelled. Because of how they smell like poo a little. LAWL

  • #73

    73rd

  • my 2 cent car crash.

    Keep fighting modern high tech big media corp’s. You show how much of a behemoth you really are.

  • Brandon

    Whoooo Bitch slapped BY the Chinese!!! Take that IFPI! Its gonna start hurting after awhile… Ya know getting Bitch slapped every time you losing a court case you waste all your money on… Mayybee you should try something more creative ehhhh????

  • http://lots-of-documentaries.blogspot.com

    Another one in the eye for the IFPI!

    This is GREAT news!

  • Unauthorized Content Consumer

    Oh and…those Chinese sure gotz biiiig bawlz. xD

  • Whatever

    How much money would the artists have gotten if the IFPI didn’t exist and no money was wasted on these lost legal actions ?

    @53 You missed one:
    [x]Whining that (a search for) a certain form of encoded data (mp3) is illegal while it is not.

    However it does fall into the catagory “misleading” and “trolling”.

  • bifter

    IFPI we are own all your choonz

  • Anonymous

    baidu is informally run by government how can some us corp challane it in china itself

  • Borderliner

    Seems that China is, at this moment atleast, *the* place when setting up your own metadata site – just let everybody known that you are, indeed, a search engine, and as this ruling says – this metadata by itself is not illegal.
    Only sad that running such a site successfully would most likely also mean that one has to develop contacts to local “businessmen” which would probably bee too muchhass, and too many bribes, for an average hobbysite.

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  • dizzee rascal

    I have to agree with ppl saying trackers should be set up in China. With this ruling, it seems it’s the safest place to be for BitTorrent.

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