Music Industry Cracks Down On Piracy In China
The recording industry on Monday took a series of steps to try to develop a music business in China based on respecting intellectual property rather than blatant violation of copyright laws, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
After months of negotiations, legal proceedings were filed against the country's biggest Internet firm, Baidu. Separate actions were taken against Sohu and its associate company Sogou. Yahoo China also faces fresh proceedings, IFPI said.
The firms involved operate similar services based on delivering music to their users via "deep links" to hundreds of thousands of infringing tracks on third party sites, with the aim of driving their own advertising revenue, the group said.
"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," IFPI Chairman John Kennedy said.
China has potentially the largest online music-buying public in the world with as many broadband connections as the United States, the organization noted. But right now, more than 99 percent of all music files distributed there are pirate. China's total legitimate music market ($76 million) accounts for less than one percent of global music sales.
Read more about the smackdown here.
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