Has EMI Had A Change Of Heart In China?
from the if-you-can't-beat-em dept — Chinese search engine Baidu's been involved in an ongoing legal battle against major record labels, which assert its MP3 searching functionality represents copyright infringement.
Context & Ripple Effects
Baidu and the major record labels, including EMI, have been locked in a legal fight over whether Baidu's MP3 search functionality constitutes copyright infringement — a battle confirmed across reporting as of early 2007. Any suggestion that EMI might soften its position matters because EMI has been one of the more hardline rights-holders: its labels Virgin, Capitol, and Liberty were selling copy-protected CDs as recently as 2006, with the security risks of that approach already being questioned.
First-order effects
- If EMI does shift from litigating against Baidu to working with it, the other major labels in the lawsuit lose their strongest potential ally and face the choice of fighting on alone or following EMI into negotiation.
- Baidu gains immediate cover: a settlement or licensing posture from even one major label undercuts the legal consensus the labels have relied on to frame MP3 search as infringement.
Second-order effects
- A label-search-engine deal in China would set a pricing template for the rest of the market, pushing remaining holdout labels toward licensing terms they previously refused to consider.
- Rival Chinese search and download services would need to strike similar arrangements or risk being undercut by a Baidu offering backed by legitimate catalog rights.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward search engines consolidating their role as primary music access points in China, with rights-holders extracting value through deals rather than takedowns — though whether EMI's shift materializes remains an open question given that it is reported as speculation, not confirmed policy.
The trend: Music rights-holders are testing a pivot from suing search engines over MP3 discovery to treating them as licensed distribution channels.