Thu

Dec 20
2007

Nat Torkington

Nat Torkington

Yahoo! spanked over copyright in China

Yahoo! were found guilty of mass copyright infringement by a Chinese court, for offering a search that linked directly to illegal MP3s. Baidu, who were also being sued, did not get spanked. Why? Nominally it's because Baidu was being prosecuted for offences that weren't illegal at the time I suspect that really it's because Baidu is viewed as a local (Chinese) product rather than a foreign one. China's institutions (from the courts down to rules on currency movement and company ownership) are used to tilt the playing field in the favour of local companies. Expect to see more of this as big western Internet companies want a piece of the big Chinese market.


tags: news from the future  | comments: 4   | Sphere It
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Comments: 4

  Jono [12.20.07 04:25 PM]

What a joke. They care about search engines and not about the factories churning out pirated cds by the million.

I wouldn't be surprised if the court itself is using pirated copies of Windows and Office.

  Jono [12.20.07 04:26 PM]

What a joke. They care about search engines and not about the factories churning out pirated cds by the million.

I wouldn't be surprised if the court itself is using pirated copies of Windows and Office.

  Mark [12.21.07 12:06 AM]

This is ridiculous. I mean I think counterfeit I think China (thanks for the Faux-lex watch). A search engine cannot be 100% regulated, pages can be removed, but what stops another from taking its place? Probably just another political struggle between US and China be it Beef, Toys, and now "tainted search results.".

  Dirk [12.22.07 01:46 PM]

I think this decision will scare off many other internet companies from the chinese market. This market has a big potential, but it is unforeseeable.

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