China was traditionally known for its rampant piracy, but is now suddenly becoming a strong copyright protection advocate with the rise of a new generation of video site operators looking to protect their intellectual property. In the latest twist of this new and somewhat unexpected trend, Internet TV operator LeTV (Shenzhen: 300104) has successfully sued fast-rising smartphone maker Xiaomi for copyright violations related to Xiaomi’s problem-plagued Internet TV set-top boxes. Read Full Post…
Tag Archives: copyright
QVOD, Shenzhen Govt Face Off Over Record Fine
An exciting showdown that could become a landmark case in copyright protection is shaping up in Shenzhen, where a company accused of rampant piracy is refusing to pay a record fine formally levied this week by the city government. I first wrote about the massive 260 million yuan ($42 million) fine against video sharing site QVOD, whose Chinese name is kuaibo, about a month ago when the record-breaking sum was first announced. (previous post) Now Shenzhen has formally levied the fine, and QVOD has refused to pay and is threatening to take its own legal action. Read Full Post…
News App, VNOs In Start-Up Setbacks
It’s not easy being a high-flying start-up, and the burden becomes even heavier when a company builds up huge expectations for itself through excessive hype. Smartphone sensation Xiaomi was in the headlines last week when it launched a big price cut, leading some to speculate the company was struggling to meet its aggressive sales targets. Now in the latest setbacks for other start-ups, media are reporting that a fast-rising news app called Today’s Headlines is being assaulted on several fronts for copyright infringement. Separately, a newly launched group of mobile service providers called virtual network operators (VNOs) has also received a setback after experiencing widespread technical glitches. Read Full Post…
Weibo: Qualcomm, Sohu Launch Counteroffensives
Top officials from leading cellphone chip maker Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) and web portal Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) were tweeting away on their microblogs last week, in what look like efforts to counter recent negative developments for both. In the former case, one of Qualcomm’s China vice presidents, Shen Jin, was hyping the potential of both 3G and 4G in China, just as his CEO was admitting that Qualcomm has come under pressure in the market due to negative fallout from the recent Edward Snowden spying scandal. Meantime, Sohu founder Charles Zhang was talking about the importance of copyright protection, in what looks like a response to criticism of selfish motives behind Sohu’s role as a lead plaintiff in a recent copyright infringement lawsuit against online search leader Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). Read Full Post…
After Years, Baidu Does the Right Thing 百度多年来的一个正确之举
I have to congratulate Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) for finally doing the right thing, or at least taking a step in the right direction, by signing a deal with 3 major record labels, Universal, Warner (NYSE: WMG) and Sony Music (Tokyo: 6758) that will see it do the once unthinkable and actually pay for copyright protected music. (company announcement) Of course there’s a bit of irony here, as Baidu previously said it will continue to offer pirated copies of music from those three labels and others via its highly popular free music swapping service, which has been criticized for years for allowing the illegal sharing of copyrighted music. Baidu’s move comes just weeks after leading video sharing site Youku (NYSE: YOKU) announced a similar tie-up to offer legal films and TV shows from Warner’s library to its premium customers. (previous post) I’ll be a bit cynical here and note that Baidu went for years 
without seeming to care about copyright protection before finally becoming “enlightened”, and have no doubt that its change of heart is coming at least in part due to heavy pressure from regulators who are trying to stamp out China’s rampant piracy. While it’s one thing for a little old lady from the countryside to sell pirated DVDs from a cart on the side of the street, it’s quite an embarrassment for Beijing when many of its top Internet companies like Baidu also engage in such practices, and clearly we’re going to see a move by major Net firms to slowly phase out their sites that encourage copyright infringement over the next few years. As that happens, look for more deals like the one just announced by Baidu, and also look for the company and its peers to suffer a bit when they finally close down their popular but illegal song- and video-swapping services.
Bottom line: Baidu’s slow embrace of copyright protection marks the beginning of a cleanup of pirated material on China’s Internet, which will benefit content providers but hurt Web firms.
百度与环球唱片、华纳唱片<WMG.N>、索尼音乐<6758.T>三大音乐唱片公司签署正版音乐使用协议。我必须要为百度<BIDU.O>这一正确之举或至少向正确方向迈进了一步的行动而表示祝贺。该协议将使百度要为使用受版权保护的音乐付费。当然，有点儿讽刺的是，百度之前曾表示，会通过其非常受欢迎的免费音乐交换服务继续提供盗版音乐。免费音乐交换服务多年来因允许非法分享正版音乐而备受抨击。几个星期前，优酷<YOKU.N>宣布要向其优质客户提供来自华纳的电影和电视节目。我要在这稍微尖刻一点：百度多年来都好像不在乎版权保护问题，直到最近才突然“恍然大悟”，而毫无疑问的是，这部分是因为百度受到了来自监管者的强大压力。中国监管机构正努力打击盗版。农村老妇在街边卖盗版碟也就罢了，很多像百度这样的顶级互联网公司居然也这麽做，对於中国政府来说确实不怎麽好看。未来几年，我们肯定会看到，大型网络公司会逐渐关闭其涉嫌侵犯版权的网站。若果真如此，预计还会有很多像百度刚刚宣布的那种协议的出现，而当这些非法的音乐和视频服务被关闭後，相关公司应该会感受到一些痛楚。
一句话：百度最终签署正版音乐使用协议，说明清除中国互联网上的侵权内容正逐渐开始，这将使内容提供商受益，而使网络公司受伤。
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Baidu Flounders Abroad, Wastes Time With Microsoft Tie-Up 百度海外拓展 与微软合作纯属浪费时间
◙ Youku, TCL Discover Hollywood in New Tie-Ups 优酷、TCL双双联手好莱坞大品牌
◙ Baidu Shake-Up Underscores Instability, Frustration 百度重组表明公司高层动荡及新产品受挫
