More than 100 publishers and writers are set to sue China's online search engine firm Baidu for copyright violation of their work, it has been reported. Earlier last month, more than 20 writers jointly issued a statement criticising Baidu. They have now decided to sue the search giant and are also asking Baidu to delete their work, compensate them, and close the online library, wenku.baidu.com.
Several publishers, including Shanda Corporation and Dangdang.com, previously filed a lawsuit against Baidu. The publishers had then asked it to delete all the books that violate their copyright.
The China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS) later issued a statement supporting the publishers seeking to sue Baidu. CWWCS further called for more publishers and writers to protect their own rights. According to the Society, Baidu offered download services on many works of literature, which violates the rights of the writers and has a negative impact on the Internet environment.
A public relations representative for Baidu has clarified that the company's online library is a platform for netizens to share documents or articles. All the articles or files therein are uploaded by the netizens and, therefore, Baidu does not infringe on the rights of the publishers and writers. The representative also said that after it received requests from the publishers and writers, it deleted the material concerned but, since the platform is open, some netizens were able to upload the works again.
According to Wang Bin, secretary general of the Copyright Union of the Internet Society of China, the country's Copyright Law and Intellectual Property Law do not give any legal definition or explanation of online copyright. This means that each case is judged according to the specific situation.
Search for more Copyrights realted information
To access our daily STM news feed through your iPhone, iPad, or other smartphones, please visit www.myscoope.com for a mobile friendly reading experience.
