[photopress:yahoo_china_sign_being_erected.jpg,full,alignright]Beijing Star Daily reports that eleven of the world biggest music companies are suing Yahoo!’s China division for about RMB5.5 million (US$710,690) for music copyright infringement.
The music companies include EMI, Sony BMG, Warner and Universal.
The companies said since April 10, 2006 (just over a year) the parent company of Yahoo!’s China division, Alibaba, had provided download links for 223 songs owned by them.
The lawsuit will be heard at the Beijing Second Intermediate Court and it will claim Yahoo! infringed on the copyrights of their music by illegally providing lyrics, music and mobile phone rings downloading services related to the music.
Yahoo! China refutes this, saying it is a search engine and can’t be held responsible for content provided by its users. What it publishes are links, not downloadable content.
Such a case was once brought against China’s biggest search engine, Baidu, in 2005, but the case was later dismissed. However, the times and attitudes are changing and this case may have a different outcome.
Source: China View