Court rules against Baidu in mobile game class action suit

Though Baidu lost the suit, the company was required to pay far less than the amount it offered to settle out of court. (File photo)

A court in Beijing has ruled against Chinese search engine giant Baidu in a class action copyright lawsuit filed by 25 developers of mobile phone games at the end of last year, the Chinese-language National Business Daily reports.

The ruled on Tuesday that Baidu must pay compensation of 7,000 yuan (US$ 1,100) to Dalian Alioth Technology Consultancy, a game developer who accused Baidu of illegally decoding its popular mobile phone game Flame Dragon Black Knight and uploading it to its WAP net for free downloads.

The developer said Baidu garnered a large number of visitors with this infringement, creating major losses for the company. The developer asked Baidu to stop the free download service and sought 100,000 yuan (US$ 15,800) in compensation.

Baidu admitted they offered the game but only as a result of its search function. The internet giant denied that it voluntarily uploaded the game to its website, insisting this came about as the result of a synchronization update on the internet.

The 25 plaintiffs, all members of China's Content Provider Union, accused Baidu of violating copyright on 354 games. The court only included 17 of these games in the hearing, said Wang Yingjun, lawyer for the plaintiffs, who he said will appeal to a higher court.

The union said Baidu tried to settle out of court but they failed to reach an agreement on the compensation. Baidu offered a total of 5 million yuan (US$ 790,000) for developers, amounting to less than 20,000 yuan (US$ 3,160) for each game. Yet the compensation ordered by the court is less than the amount Baidu offered to pay, Wang noted.

A source familiar with the matter told the newspaper that Baidu could make thousands of yuan from each game per day (1,000 yuan = US$ 158). The figure was not confirmed by Baidu.

Source: Want China Times

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