Is Baidu A Pirate?

By Digital Trends Staff June 4, 2008

Earlier in 2008 the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) filed a copyright lawsuit against Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, to the tune of $9 million.

Now they’ve gone a step further, and along with the Music Copyright Society of China and the newly-minted China Audio-Video Copyright Association they’re trying to hit Baidu in the wallet by encouraging advertisers to boycott the site.

The music industry reps claimed Baidu is the largest source of pirated music in China – quite a claim when they admit that about 80% of the total music revenue goes to pirates.

Baidu doe have a music search engine, with a link from its home page. However, the music files are all on third-party servers, none of which are controlled or owned by Baidu.

Baidu is the biggest search engine in a country where computer growth is expanding exponentially, claiming 25% of the ad revenue market. To offer a comparison, the best that Western powerhouse Google can manage there is fourth place and 10%.

Editors' Recommendations

Apple sued by Baidu over fake Ernie chatbot apps on App Store

Digital Trends Staff

Digital Trends has a simple mission: to help readers easily understand how tech affects the way they live. We are your…

Computing

How to draw on Google Docs to add doodles, sketches, and more

The Google Play Store, YouTube, and Google Docs installed on an Amazon Fire Max 11.

Word processing software isn’t the kind of tool that most users would consider exciting, which is why we’re glad to see companies like Google adding a little flair to its own products. We’re talking about Google Docs, a free-to-use word processor that’s part of your larger Google Account ecosystem. Basic formatting options and other familiar word processing functions are front and center on Google Docs, but the ability to add doodles, sketches, and other entertaining media to your next Docs file requires a special bit of know-how.

Computing

AMD’s upcoming APUs might destroy your GPU

AMD CEO Lisa Su holding an APU chip.

The spec sheets for AMD's upcoming APU lineups, dubbed Strix Point and Strix Halo, have just been leaked, and it's safe to say that they're looking pretty impressive. Equipped with Zen 5 cores, the new APUs will find their way to laptops that are meant to be on the thinner side, but their performance might rival that of some of the best budget graphics cards -- and that's without having a discrete GPU.

While AMD hasn't unveiled Strix Point (STX) and Strix Halo (STX Halo) specs just yet, they were leaked by HKEPC and then shared by VideoCardz. The sheet goes over the maximum specs for each APU lineup, the first of which, Strix Point, is rumored to launch this year. Strix Halo, said to be significantly more powerful, is currently slated for a 2025 release.

Computing

Hyte made me fall in love with my gaming PC all over again

A PC built with the Hyte Nexus Link ecosystem.

I've never seen anything quite like Hyte's new Nexus Link ecosystem. Corsair has its iCue Link system, and Lian Li has its magnetic Uni system, and all three companies are now offering ways to tie together your PC cooling and lighting devoid of extraneous cables. But Hyte's marriage of hardware, software, and accessories is in a league of its own -- and it transformed my PC build completely.

I've been using some of the foundational components of the ecosystem for about a week, retailoring a build inside of Hyte's own Y40 PC case to see how the system works. It doesn't seem too exciting at first -- Hyte released an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler, some fans, and a few RGB strips, who cares? But as I engaged more with the Nexus Link ecosystem, I only became more impressed.
It all starts with the cooler