05/06, 9:00am
Baidu to work with labels
The most popular search engine in China, Baidu, is mulling sharing its ad revenue from the music search service it offers or otherwise compensating record labels. This comes after competitor Google began offering a licensed music download search earlier this year in the market. For years, Baidu drew flak for copyright infringement and linking websites that offer downloads of pirated songs, but the practice did attract a record number of users.
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02/06, 11:05am
Google China Music Deal
Google is crafting a deal that would allow free, official music downloads in China, says a report today by the Wall Street Journal. Claiming only to know sources "close to the situation," the paper states that a Chinese online music agency is involved in a joint venture with Google's Chinese branch Guge to offer music from three major international labels as well as a larger collection of independents. How the service will remain free is unknown, although past approaches have often relied on advertising either through a download website or embedded in the tracks themselves to subsidize the song prices.
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12/27, 4:30pm
Google Wins Vs Gu Ge
Google has won a lawsuit in China that could have significantly affected its success in the country, Pacific Epoch reports. The American search engine firm had been sued by Beijing firm Gu Ge Technology for using the words "Gu Ge" to represent itself in China; by registering its name first in late April 2006, GGT had the exclusive rights to use the name for its online retail store, the complaint reads. The presiding judge has stricken own this argument and ruled in favor of Google, noting that actual use of the Gu Ge name by Google started a week earlier -- indicating that Google could not have knowingly infringed on another company's patent, according to the court.
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