According to local reports, the MCSC had sued Baidu for Rmb 1 million (US$146,550) in January because the engine provided lyrics of more than 50 songs held by the Society to users in its search results.
During the proceedings, Baidu averred its actions were not copyright violations because it purely functioned as a search engine and crawled the data of other online sources, the reports added.
During the proceedings, Baidu averred its actions were not copyright violations because it purely functioned as a search engine and crawled the data of other online sources, the reports added.
Baidu has had a drawn-out legal process involving its music searches. Most recently in 2007, a Beijing court cleared the Chinese search engine of copyright infringement following suits issued in 2005 by seven international record labels, including EMI and Warner Music.
Since then, Baidu has taken steps to circumvent these issues in the future. In October, it announced a partnership with seven record companies to launch a legal music-streaming channel. The agreement allowed Baidu users to stream music from labels including EMI Music, Emperor Entertainment Group and Rock Records & Tapes.
