Music industry calls for boycott of Baidu.com

Three music industry bodies and several record companies have jointly vowed to boycott Baidu.com and alleged the biggest Internet search engine in China has become the biggest provider of pirated music in the country.

The Music Copyright Society of China (MCSC), together with the China Audio-Video Copyright Association (CAVCA) and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), as well as Universal Music Publishing, Warner-Chappell Music (Publishing), EMI Music Publishing, Sony BMG and other record companies, yesterday signed and issued a statement to escalate a fight against Baidu.com, according to IFPI's Website and other Chinese media.

They called on major corporations to support copyright protection through practical actions and avoid providing any financial support to copyright infringers.

The alliance also sent letters to advertisers and advertising companies suggesting that they carefully consider whether they should continue to place advertisements with "pirating media."

"Lawsuits are not the only way for rights holders to safeguard their rights," said Qu Jingming, MCSC Director-General.

Baidu.com has said it is highly concerned about the issue and emphasized that it always pays attention to online intellectual property protection.

R2G, a digital music distribution and licensing company, filed a lawsuit against Baidu.com at Beijing's Haidian District People's Court on May 16.

Baidu.com won a suit at the end of 2006 in which IFPI represented seven record companies. It sued the search engine for offering free downloads of 195 songs, which copyrights belonged to the seven companies.