Yahoo! China have apparently disputed claims by the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry that it is guilty of copyright infringement. As you'll remember, the IFPI has accused the search engine of copyright violation because an MP3 search service it offers links to many illegal sources of music. The IFPI, which is already locked in a legal fight with China's biggest search engine, Baidu.com, on the same issue, hopes to use new tougher Chinese copyright laws to force Yahoo! to drop the service.
However Yahoo! China's owner, Alibaba.com, has denied that it is guilty of violating anyone's copyright, and says that it will take action against the IFPI if they damage its corporate reputation by making such allegations. In a statement issued by their Hong Kong based PR company, Yahoo! China told reporters: "The IFPI have no basis in claiming that Yahoo! China 'is infringing IFPI member companies' rights on a large scale. With respect to any damage to Yahoo! China's reputation and our ongoing business operations, we hereby reserve all of our legal rights."
As previously reported, the global Yahoo! Corp has a 40% share in the Chinese service (actually, I think it actually has a 40% share in Alibaba.com).