Baidu ordered to pay 50,000 yuan for Web violation

Chinese search engine Baidu.com was ordered yesterday to pay 50,000 yuan (US$7,278) in compensation to Dazhong Transportation and Dazhong Moving for allowing links of Websites that promoted business in the name of Dazhong Moving illegally to be available on search pages.

The Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court also announced verdicts about another two intellectual property cases involving the Internet.

Shanghai Dazhong Moving and Logistics Co Ltd found last year that if key words of Dazhong Moving were typed on Baidu.com, a promotion column on the Website showed links of a number of competitors that could recruit business in the name of Dazhong Moving.

The column is a paid advertising service offered by Baidu.com. The link position of the companies on the Website is based on the fee they paid.

Dazhong Moving and Dazhong Transportation (Group) Co Ltd that authorizes Dazhong Moving to use the Dazhong trademark then filed a lawsuit against Baidu.com for trademark violation and unfair competition.

Since it wasn't the ad publisher, Baidu argued it shouldn't take responsibility for content in others' Websites.

The court ruled that the defendant didn't pay enough attention to whether Websites of its registered clients had violated others' interests.

In addition to the compensation, the defendant should publish a statement for 48 hours, it was ruled.

Also yesterday, Wap Network Technology Co Ltd was ordered to compensate 200,000 yuan to Beijing Chinese Online Culture Development Co Ltd for publishing 40 bestsellers online without permission of copyright owners.

Meanwhile eBay.com, one of the largest domestic e-commercial Websites, was ruled to have acted irresponsibly for selling pirates of the electronic version of "Si Ku Quan Shu."

"Si Ku Quan Shu," which was compiled during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), contains more than 36,000 volumes of important books from throughout Chinese history.

The electronic version, valued at HK$85,000 (US$10,897), was sold by a seller at 60 yuan on eBay.

The court ruled eBay had not violated copyright as it has published a statement to remind online sellers to take responsibility for the legality of auctioned items. It needn't compensate for the pirates.