Beijing court rules Yahoo China violates IPR

"facilitating mass copyright infringement through [LINKS] music downloads"

[walkman]

"Beijing's No. 2 Intermediate Court said in April that Yahoo China, part-owned by Yahoo Inc, one of the world's biggest Internet companies, should bear some responsibility for the copyright infringement, although the music was downloaded from servers of third-party Web sites.

The court ordered Yahoo China to delete links to free Web sites offering music downloads and to pay about 200,000 yuan for facilitating distribution of unlicensed songs by other sites. Yahoo China then said it would appeal against the verdict."
[reuters.com...]

[bill]

This, plus sliding market share seems to be taking its toll on China Yahoo. They're even letting staff go:

China Yahoo said to be cutting staff [shanghaidaily.com]
CHINA Yahoo, a subsidiary under the nation's largest e-commerce firm Alibaba.com Corp, is trimming its workforce and sending staff back to the parent company, sources close to the company said.

"Dozens of people," including mid level managers and directors, are returning to Alibaba while others are asked to leave with compensation for their service, they said, asking for anonymity.