Baidu illegally used web content
Print Edition
LOCAL lifestyle information site Dianping.com has been awarded more than 3 million yuan (US$457,338) in compensation from search engine provider Baidu Inc in an unfair competition case, the Pudong New Area People’s Court ruled yesterday.
Baidu’s unauthorized use of Dianping’s images and user comments was considered unfair competition by the court and it was ordered to remove them from the site.
According to the court, Shanghai Hantao Information Consulting Co, which owns the website, found that Baidu had been copying Dianping’s images and user comments since 2012, which Hantao said resulted in lost web traffic and revenue.
The content was also published on the website city8.com, whose owner, Shanghai Jietu Software Technology Co, has a deal with Baidu to use its maps.
Hantao filed a lawsuit against the two companies demanding that they stop using its content and pay it compensation for their infringement.
In its defense, Baidu said it provides a search service while Dianping offers lifestyle information featuring restaurants and food delivery services, so the two, it claimed, are not in direct competition.
Baidu also claimed that the user comments were not created by Dianping itself and therefore are not legally protected.
In its defense, Jietu said it should not be liable because it was authorized to use Baidu’s content and never intended to infringe on Dianping’s rights.
The court ruled that the two services are similar enough that a competitive relationship exists and that the unauthorized use of the content by Baidu resulted in a loss of web traffic for Dianping.
Since Jietu was authorized to use Baidu content, it is not guilty of infringement, the court ruled.
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