China's Baidu (Ticker Symbol: BIDU) Sued for Piracy ahead of IPO

From Bloomberg.com: China's Baidu, Held by Google, Is Sued for Piracy

"Baidu.com Inc., China's biggest Internet search engine and part-owned by Google Inc., is being sued by two local companies over alleged copyright infringement, ahead of its planned first-time share sale in the U.S."

"Beijing New Picture Film Co., copyright owner of "House of Flying Daggers,'' filed suit last month against Baidu for allowing users to download the movie for a fee, (...). The Chinese-language film was released overseas by Sony Corp."

"Shanghai Busheng Music Culture Media Co. in June also sued Baidu for allowing unauthorized downloads of 53 songs, according to share sale documents released by Beijing-based Baidu ahead of its planned offer of stock on the Nasdaq market in the U.S."

"The copyright issue has cast great uncertainty over Baidu's future business models and revenue,'' said Gu Feng, a technology analyst at Shenyin Wanguo Securities Co. in Shanghai. "This is something investors should take into account.''"

China Net Investor: Google holds a 2.6 pct minority stake in Baidu.

Facts and numbers: Baidu (BIDU) IPO - Fact Sheet

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