The Chinese search engine which was ordered by the Beijing courts to close down a service which enables people to search for MP3 tracks from both legal and illegal sources has entered into talks with the four major record companies to see if it can find a compromise.
Bosses at Baidu.com are trying to resist having to close down their MP3 search function, probably because it is one of the few services they offer that sets them apart from main rival Google. They argued that because they do not illegally host copyrighted music on any of their own servers they could not be deemed to be acting illegally. However the courts disagreed, arguing they were promoting the illegal acquisition of music online, and benefiting from it.
Baidu.com says it wants to find a way to ensure its MP3 search service does not violate copyright. Earlier this week it had a five hour meeting with the major record companies to find a way to achieve that to the content owners' satisfaction. However the labels were reportedly not satisfied with the search engine's proposals, and the meeting ended without resolution.
Baidu.com probably have more to lose by not reaching a compromise because the major labels want to use the recent court ruling to force the search engine to pay them 1.67 million yuan ($206,000) in compensation. That said, Baidu.com have said they will appeal the original ruling if a compromise cannot be reached, which would buy them time if nothing else.