Baidu removes links to
pirated music files
Baidu, a Chinese search
engine, filed documents for a Nasdaq listing with the US Securities and
Exchange Commission in July 2005. According to the prospectus, Baidu
hopes to raise a maximum of 80 million US dollars. Baidu also stated
that its MP3 download service links to third-party Web sites that offer
content that may be copyright protected. Although
according to Baidu, 22 percent of the traffic on its website comes from
users, who long a source for free music downloads, Baidu agreed
to remove thousands of links to pirated music
in response to requests from R2G, a Chinese digital rights management
company which tracks piracy and manages licences for music
publishers. Baidu claims, the search engine has
investigated possible violations involving more than 50.000 files.