Han Han wins piracy lawsuit against Baidu

[Nazgul]

Han Han wins piracy lawsuit against Baidu

2012-09-17 08:02:54 GMT2012-09-17 16:02:54(Beijing Time) SINA English

Baidu, the country's biggest search engine, was ordered to pay more than 80,000 yuan to Han Han, one of China's bestselling author, for publishing three of his books and offering downloads without his permission, a Beijing court ruled today.

The Haidian District People's Court said Baidu didn't take proper action to prevent piracy when some Internet users put Han's books online for free download and it acted slowly to stop the piracy.

The court said Baidu should have known the downloadable documents can result in copyright infringement during the process of content review. It ordered Baidu to pay 83,800 yuan in compensation to Han Han.

The court rejected Han's demands for publishing an apology letter for seven days on Baidu.com and shutting down Baidu Wenku, an online document-sharing platform.

According to Han's lawyer, the author, 29, had repeatedly asked Baidu Wenku to stop piracy and copyright infringement, but it just "gave him the runaround" and Han's novels are still available at the site.

The lawyer said Baidu put them online deliberately to attract viewers and boost revenues.

 

[AntiPAPunk]

Baidu must pay author 95,800 yuan over piracy
By Saladin Xu | 2012-9-18 | NEWSPAPER EDITION

BAIDU, the country's biggest search engine, was ordered to pay 95,800 yuan (US$15,152) in compensation to Han Han, one of China's bestselling authors, for publishing three of his books online and offering downloads without his permission, a Beijing court ruled yesterday.

The Haidian District People's Court said Baidu didn't take proper action to prevent piracy when netizens put Han's books online for free downloading and it acted slowly to stop the piracy, reported China National Radio. The court said Baidu should have known the downloadable documents could result in copyright infringement during the process of content review, CNR reported.

It ordered Baidu to pay compensation to Han, but it rejected Han's demands for publishing an apology letter for seven days on Baidu.com and shutting down Baidu Wenku, an online document-sharing platform, CNR reported.

The court said it rejected those demands because Han failed to provide efficient evidence.

The author, 29, demanded in a Beijing court hearing in July that Baidu Wenku halt the copyright infringement, publish the apology and pay him more than 760,000 yuan in compensation. He also called for shutting down the platform.

Wang Guohua, Han's lawyer, told CNR they weren't too worried about how much money Baidu would have to pay. Wang said the result met their expectations since the court ruled Baidu committed copyright infringement.