Music industry calls for advertisers to boycott Baidu

The music industry called on advertisers to stop using Baidu.com, as the internet search engine encourages copyright infringement, the South China Morning Post reported. The joint statement was issued by the Music Copyright Society of China, the China Audio-Video Copyright Association, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) as well as domestic and international labels including Universal Music and Sony BMG. The groups urged all major corporations, including advertisers, to stop providing financial support for copyright infringers. They also named Baidu the biggest offender. The IFPI said that 50% of all music piracy on the mainland arose from internet MP3 searches and that Baidu accounted for 75% of those searches. The IFPI sued Baidu for copyright infringement in April and is seeking damages of US$9 million.