Yahoo appeal heard in China

 

Trimmed by IPsoon Global Agency
Nov 24, 2007

 

 

A Beijing intermediate court ordered Yahoo! China, the search engine owned by online commerce group Alibaba, to pay RMB210,000 ($27,000) in damages to members of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in April.

 

IFPI brought the case on behalf of a coalition of companies including EMI Records, Mercury Records, Sony BMG and Warner Music in January this year.

 

The record companies accused the search engine of infringing their copyright by offering a music download service through its mp3 search page. Users were able to search for individual tracks and then download them or play them for free without authorization.

 

IFPI filed a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of companies including EMI Records, Mercury Records, Sony BMG and Warner Music in January this year.

 

Tim Smith, legal counsel for IFPI in London said no new arguments had been heard in a case that he described as ¡°very important¡±.

 

¡°IFPI believes that China is a market that offers huge potential to the recording industry, but this cannot be realized while internet music piracy is so widespread,¡± he told MIP Week.

 

IFPI is itself appealing against a decision by a Beijing Court in November last year that cleared Chinese search engine Baidu.com of copyright infringement. The case concerned the search engine¡¯s mp3 search service, which allows users to search for websites offering unlicensed music downloads ¨C a process known as deep linking.

 

 

IPsoon Global Agency comments:

Copyright infringement litigation in China is increasing. Many things that go without saying we see is criticized by foreigners. It helps more Chinese know more about copyright.