Baidu, Taobao Identified as `Notorious Markets' by U.S. for Helping Piracy
Baidu, Taobao Named 'Notorious Markets' by U.S.
Nelson Ching/Bloomberg
The Baidu Inc. MP3 website is arranged on a computer in Beijing.
The Baidu Inc. MP3 website is arranged on a computer in Beijing. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg
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Baidu Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Taobao, China’s biggest Internet search engine and retailer, were named “notorious markets” by the U.S. Trade Representative for helping sustain piracy and counterfeiting.
The two Chinese companies were among more than 30 Internet and physical markets worldwide identified by the USTR for helping the illegal sale of goods or materials protected by copyright or patents. Others on the list include the Pirate Bay file-sharing website in Sweden and the Silk Market in Beijing, according to the statement.
The U.S. agency called on regulators overseeing the markets included in its list to pursue possible legal action and step up efforts to combat the violations. The spread of global piracy and counterfeiting hurts entrepreneurs and industries worldwide, said Ron Kirk, the trade representative.
“There’s always some concern on investors’ minds about fraud,” said Aaron Kessler, an analyst at ThinkEquity LLC in San Francisco. “That’s existed in China to a larger degree than with U.S. companies.”
Zhao Xianquan, a spokesman at China’s Ministry of Commerce, didn’t immediately return two calls to his office telephone seeking comment.
Baidu, China’s most visited website, provides “deep linking” to items on sites that are being sold without the copyright holders’ permission, according to the statement. Taobao has a “long way to go” to stamp out the availability of infringing goods on its website, though the company is making “significant efforts” to resolve the problem, according to the statement.
Physical Markets
“We will continue to work closely with brand owners and others to further enhance the level of trust and integrity in our online marketplaces,” John Spelich, a Hong Kong-based spokesman at Alibaba, said in an e-mail today. Kaiser Kuo, a spokesman at Baidu in Beijing, declined to comment.
Other websites listed include torrentz.com; ThePirateBay, which has been the target of “notable criminal prosecution” in Sweden; 91.com; and Rutracker based in Russia, according to the statement.
“The United States urges the responsible authorities to intensify efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting in these and similar markets, and to use the information contained in the Notorious Markets List to pursue legal action,” according to the U.S. report.
The report also listed 17 physical markets, including the Silk Market in Beijing, which it called a “particularly prominent example of the counterfeiting of commercial and industrial products that is endemic in many retail and wholesale markets throughout China.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net; Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net
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