A Beijing court has recently upheld a ruling that Yahoo China violates the Mainland Chinese law by facilitating mass copyright infringement though music downloads, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry(IFPI) said.
“The ruling against Yahoo China is extremely significant in clarifying copyright rules for Internet music services in China,” said the IFPI, which aims to combat piracy and promote copyright laws. Yahoo China officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Early this year, music industry leaders including Warner Music Group Corp sued Yahoo China for alleged copyright infringement involving more than 200 unlicensed songs, seeking damages of 5.5 million yuan.
Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court said in April this year that Yahoo China, partly-owned by Yahoo Inc, one of the world's biggest Internet companies, should bear some responsibilities for the copyright infringement, although the music was downloaded from servers of third-party websites.
The court ordered Yahoo China to delete links to free websites offering music downloads and to pay about 200,000 yuan for facilitating distribution of unlicensed songs by other sites. Yahoo China then said it would appeal against the verdict.
The Beijing Higher People's Court upheld the April ruling on this Thursday(i.e. 20th December 2007), under new copyright laws that were enforced last year, the IFPI said.
Music sales on the Mainland China totaled US$76 million last year, less than 1 per cent of the global recorded music market, the IFPI said.
(Notes: The report is for reference only, taken with minor adjustments from the South China Morning Post of 22th December 2007)
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