IFPI to Sue Yahoo China for Music Piracy

A record industry group said Tuesday that it planned to sue Yahoo China over copyright infringement, saying the service was making pirated copies of music available for download from its Web site. The site is a partnership between Yahoo and Chinese-owned company Alibaba.com.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said it wrote to the site in April 2006 asking it to take steps to curb the problem. It claims that Yahoo China never responded, thus it has begun the process required in the country to file a lawsuit.

"Yahoo China has been blatantly infringing our members' rights," IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy said in a statement. "We have started the process and as far as we're concerned we're on the track to litigation. If negotiation can prevent that, so be it."

According to IFPI statistics, 85 percent of music in China is pirated. The group has criticized Yahoo China's search engine in the past for perpetuating this problem by allowing links to sites that provide illicit music downloads.

One other Chinese site has already been told by Chinese courts to stop linking to such sites, leading search site Baidu.com. The music industry has singled out both sites in its criticisms.

Yahoo China was not responding to requests for comment.