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Music Giants Sue Baidu Over Music Downloads

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the sweet-sound-of-being-silenced dept.

chengee writes "Music giants Universal, EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and their local subsidiaries are suing Chinese search engine Baidu for allegedly infringing the copyright of hundreds of songs, a press report said Friday. Looks like the party is going to be over for Chinese downloaders. But more importantly how will this lawsuit turn out in a place known for its lax copyright laws?"

15 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. When it suits them... by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Looks like the party is going to be over for Chinese downloaders. But more importantly how will this lawsuit turn out in a place known for its lax copyright laws?"

    This round? Probably something in spirit in favor of the RIAA, but still not as well enforced or as speedily as they would like. Not as fast as, say a tune with the lyrics like "Taiwan Independence Day, Hooray!" or "Falun Gong, get it on", where everyone would remark at the swiftness and finality of their enforcement.

    But with the looming US debt owed to China, how long before they say, "No, Yankee, we don't feel like it. What are you going to do about it" and grin the grin of one who knows they hold the other by the short hairs?

    China has a track record of honoring treaties and peace when they have larger goals in sight. Once they have achieved those goals... The West will see how much they really care what the rest of the world has to say and tell it what opinion it should share of the great PRC.

    They're patient, they've put up with hundreds of years of crap and they know it. Has the West forgotten?

    There has been a growing concern among investors over the company's prospects. Its shares dropped 28 percent in New York Wednesday after two analysts warned the stock was seriously overvalued.

    And yet Google isn't?

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:When it suits them... by orzetto · · Score: 4, Insightful
      China has a track record of honoring treaties and peace when they have larger goals in sight. Once they have achieved those goals...

      Give credit where credit is due. No country ever respected treaties they could infringe without fear of punishment, if they had something to gain from it.

      It's just a fact of history: the signature on a treaty is no stronger than the signing arm.

      --
      Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
    2. Re:When it suits them... by rainman_bc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's just a fact of history: the signature on a treaty is no stronger than the signing arm.

      Which is exactly why the US completely disregards NAFTA - the framework they themselves helped build.

      They only apply NAFTA as it suits them, not the other way around. The US is no different than China IMO.

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    3. Re:When it suits them... by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But with the looming US debt owed to China, how long before they say, "No, Yankee, we don't feel like it. What are you going to do about it" and grin the grin of one who knows they hold the other by the short hairs?

      It is a two way street and will be for quite some time. China buys a lot of US bonds. But the US is China's largest market by far and for the forseeable future. They need the US to keep buying from them (remember the whole brohaha over most-favored-nation trading status). Additionally, China has a couple of looming problems - the double-digit economic growth rates are unstustainble for the long run, their economy will slow, at which point they will need the US market even more. Secondly, the one-child policy has produced a major age inversion - it is going to get harder to support the aging population with less able-bodied people entering the workforce than are retiring from it.

      Over the past year, China has made a show of cracking down on flagrant IP violators. My impression (and that's all it is, an impression) is that big crackdowns have had no long-term effects on the 'market' as a whole.

      This case is different in that Baidu is in the top-5 websites with the most page-hits in all of the world, I suspect that the Chinese goverment has "pride" in Baidu and a big punishment would be considered a loss of face. But, big show-punishments seems to be how they've handled similar complaints recently. So there is probably some level of internal conflict here. Just my occidental analysis of the situation.

      And yet Google isn't [overvalued]?

      Not the way Baidu is, see this analysis.

    4. Re:When it suits them... by meringuoid · · Score: 3, Informative
      An man from China once said, China has every thing, what could the rest of the world offer in trade? The answer was thest addicting millions to opium and fighting the boxers and chasing the empress from her throne for the right.

      The man in question was the Emperor Qinglong, in reply to an embassy from King George III, who was trying to open up trade with China. His reply is... amazing. The sheer arrogance and, so it seems, total ignorance on the part of the Celestial Emperor of what he was dealing with, is quite astounding. To say to the ruler of the rising British Empire, "Tremblingly obey and show no negligence!"... wow. Not really surprising things ended badly there. The whole letter is just one long spectacular insult.

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    5. Re:When it suits them... by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, more importantly, USA is moving rapidly to being an IP only country. This is easy to destroy. All china (and most of the world) has to do, is simply no longer accept the method patent. At that point, the brave new world that was started in the 80's will be destroyed.

      That is because we will have no manufactuering, no infrastructure, and quite honestly, no education. The only thing that we will have is abstract IP (music, books, software, etc). China is methodically destroying the west and making sure that they are in a good position. Sadly, our leaders do not get it.

      As to the overvalueing, most of software companies are overvalues. MS? what do they have that is worth what they are valued at? Their monopoly, which is slowly being taken apart by the marketplace. Google? Yeah, they are overvalued. But I think that they are making hay of what they have. Hopefully, they remain in the top.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  2. Darn. by TheOtherAgentM · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now they're going to have to stick to buying DVDs for a dollar on the streets.

  3. Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Welcome to China.

    Where you can walk down the street and buy hundreds of western media, IP, software and music products from corner pirate bootleggers, and nobody bats an eyelash.

    But if you want to start a search engine that might help people find resources online, well, that won't be stood for. People might use that to "pirate" things.

    This perfectly encapsulates the spirit of modern China: The capitalistic freedoms to lie, cheat and steal, but not the humanist freedoms to speak, organize and share information.

  4. Avast Mateys!!! by Eberlin · · Score: 5, Funny

    There be no treasure here, matey! Arrrr. If tis pirates they seek, tis pirates they find in these high seas. Arrrr.

    The land lubbers be afterrr us for piracy, but I swear on my right eyepatch that we be faring better than the fate of walking the plank. Arrrrr.

    Baidu be giving treasure maps to this here loot and booty (points with hook hand) but for all the enterprising yellowbeards, we have ways to bury our pirate gold. Arrrr.

    "Old pirates, yes, they rob i;
    Sold I to the merchant ships,
    Minutes after they took i
    From the bottomless pit."

        -- Redemption Song (Bob Marley)

  5. Google by mysqlrocks · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "From the copyright point of view, we think differently than the music companies. Baidu is just a platform for music search," Liang said.

    Why aren't they suing Google as well? Google makes it possible to find copyrighted material? Of course one could use a search engine to find the people who are providing illegal copies and sue them.
    --
    Bradley Holt
  6. Lax Laws? by Ahnteis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seems rather subjective to me. I mean, granted -- I'm no expert on China's copyright laws (but I can pretend if you'd like since this IS /.) but are their laws really lax or is the submitter just so used to his own laws that they SEEM lax. Personally, I find much of US copyright law overly restrictive and biased toward corporations.

    Additionally, I don't know if laws can even be lax. Seems like it's the enforcement that should be called lax rather then the law. After all, the laws DEFINE what's legal. Perhaps lenient would be a better word?

  7. Google Music Search by Valiss · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I always wondered when I added 'filetype:mp3' to my search why Google yielded zero results. Is this a copyright thing?

    --

    -Valiss
  8. Wouldn't it be wonderful if... by gilgongo · · Score: 3, Interesting
    From TFA: "...the goal was to 'cooperate and make a platform for legal music downloads.'"

    So imagine if instead of doing what we all assume they're probably going to do (cave in to Sony, BMG et al), China turns round and says "Protect the artists? Sure! We'll do that - but only if you help us build a network that passes 100% of the purchase price of each MP3 directly to the artists that wrote or performed the tracks."

    A few yuan multiplied by a few billion makes...?

    --
    "And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
  9. Re:Is this another by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.google.com/search?q="index+of"+mp3+nfo"
    Directories with mp3's in them
    The "nfo" is to make sure its a group release

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  10. Re:And as for your name... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 3, Funny

    Arrr... So ye're Parroty Bit ye, eh?

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.