Chinese Search Engine Drops Links to Pirated MP3 Files

The introduction of a Financial Times article (reg. required):

Baidu.com, China's biggest online search company, has agreed to delete thousands of links to internet sites that offer pirated pop songs, leading Chinese digital rights management company R2G said.

R2G, which tracks piracy and manages licences for music publishers, said complaints by it to Baidu based on recently strengthened copyright regulations had prompted the search company to drop the weblinks to pirated MP3 music files from its music search platform. [link added-RL]

For a background on R2G and its increasing role in the Chinese music market and copyright enforcement efforts, see these earlier posts:

CoCo: R2G: Dredging the Chinese (P2P) Flood
CoCo: Interview R2G on Online Music Distribution & Piracy