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Digital
Baidu taken off US IP offenders list
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 21 December 2011
Chinese web search firm Baidu has been taken off the US government’s list of ‘notorious markets’, which are company’s (or, more conventionally, market places) that are seen to aid – directly or indirectly – large scale IP infringement.
The move follows the Chinese web firm’s deals this year with the major music companies and a local music publishing collecting society for a licensed music service. Prior to that the big Western music firms were highly critical of Baidu’s specific MP3 search service, which linked to vast libraries of unlicensed music, some of it seemingly only available via the Baidu platform.
Baidu is one of a number of companies to be taken off the US government’s list of IP offenders, though many still remain, including the likes of The Pirate Bay.
Commenting on those companies still on the list, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk told reporters: “The notorious markets highlighted in this review negatively impact legitimate businesses and industries of all sizes that rely on intellectual property to protect their goods and services. We hope that this review will continue to yield the kind of concrete action from highlighted markets that led to the removal of several markets from the list this year”.
