China’s Baidu Cut From U.S. ‘Notorious Markets’ Piracy List
December 27, 2011, 8:43 AM ESTBy Eric Martin
(Updates with comment from U.S. Trade Representative in fourth paragraph.)
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- China’s Baidu Inc. was removed from the U.S. government’s list of “notorious markets” that help sustain piracy and counterfeiting of intellectual property after reaching a content deal with the recording industry this year.
Baidu, China’s biggest Internet search engine, agreed in in July with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group Corp. and Sony Corp. to pay owners of copyrighted material on a social- music platform. The U.S. Trade Representative cited the deal today in its report.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Taobao, China’s biggest online retailer, remained listed among more than 30 Internet and physical markets worldwide identified for helping the illegal sale of goods or materials protected by copyright or patents, according to the report. The list included the Pirate Bay file- sharing website in Sweden and the Silk Street Market in Beijing, according to the statement.
“The notorious markets highlighted in this review negatively impact legitimate businesses and industries of all sizes that rely on intellectual property to protect their goods and services,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said today in a statement. “We hope that this review will continue to yield the kind of concrete action from highlighted markets that led to the removal of several markets from the list this year.”
The U.S. called on regulators overseeing the listed markets to pursue possible legal action and step up efforts to combat violations.
--Editors: Judy Pasternak, Steve Geimann
To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Martin in Washington at emartin21@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Geimann at sgeimann@bloomberg.net
