Combatting Criticism, Baidu to Introduce Anti-Piracy Guards in Book Technology (BIDU)

Combatting criticism that the company doesn't enforce copyright laws, Baidu BIDU said Thursday that it would introduce anti-piracy technology in its document and books product in May. China's largest search engine has recently come under fire for improper dealings with copyright-infringing material. According to a Reuters report, "Baidu, which has about 70 percent of China's search market by revenue, was criticized last week by authors who demanded that the firm remove numerous copyright-infringing books and documents found on its Baidu Library product." Baidu's spokesman Kaiser Kuo told Reuters that "The technology will not only enable Baidu Library to systematically eliminate copyright-infringing content already uploaded on its platform, but will also enable automatic rejection of future problematic uploads." The company confirmed that the same rules will not apply to music. "With music, we're not taking an identical approach, but we continue to press forward in our talks with the labels and hope to be able to achieve a breakthrough that will be good for everyone in the music industry value chain," Baidu's Kuo told Reuters. Shares of Baidu.com gained more than 4% on Wednesday, to close at $132.58.