Music Labels Lose Copyright Suit Against Baidu

Baidu, China’s largest search engine, just cleared a hurdle on copyright infringement with the music industry. The Chinese courts ruled that directing users to illegally downloadable material from third party sites did not constitute a violation, overturning an earlier favorable ruling for EMI.

From the BBC:

“If the music companies had won, the whole search engine sector would have ground to a halt,” Xinhua news agency quoted a Baidu spokesman as saying.

The report said the music companies would appeal against the ruling.