Is Baidu a copycat?

Robin Li explains the biggest difference between Baidu and Google

[bill]

https://www.techinasia.com/baidu-copycat-robin-li-explains-biggest-difference-baidu-google/ [techinasia.com]

Is Baidu a copycat? Robin Li explains the biggest difference between Baidu and Google

Chinese search engine Baidu has been the king of China’s search game for a long time, since well before Google decided to leave the Chinese market. But given the similarities between their services and, especially in the early days, their aesthetic, comparisons between Baidu and Google are common. In the foreign press, Baidu is often called the “Chinese Google,” or flat-out accused of being a Google copycat.

[lucy24]

Surely it's cheaper to copy someone else's ideas than to come up with your own. If there's no risk of repercussions, why not. Analogies present themselves.

[bill]

Despite all the hype about their prowess in search, Google isn't all that great with a lot of Asian languages. They're getting better all the time, but in the early days in China my experience was that Baidu simply handled Chinese language searches better. The people I asked in China thought the same.

Baidu may have mimicked some of the look and feel of Google, but it would be hard to say that they simply copied all of the technology.