So much for Baidu getting preferential treatment as I mentioned before as Universal, SonyBMG, and Warner are now suing Baidu for violating copyright laws:

Three global record companies have launched legal proceedings against China’s top Internet search engine Baidu.com Inc, accusing it of violating copyright by giving access to music files, an international music trade body said.

Universal Music Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) Ltd and Warner Music Hong Kong Ltd have asked a court to order Baidu to remove all links on its music delivery service to copyright-infringing tracks that they own the rights to, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a statement.

The claims have been filed with a court in Beijing, said IFPI, which is backed by global music industry heavyweights.

Of course, filing a claim is the easy part and will be a long road in trying to prove their case.

It is interesting that they are suing Baidu for linking to sites that have the service directly while ignoring Google for the same thing if you know how to use the advanced search commands. I do not know how or why search engines in general are perfectly allowed to link to any and all written articles, but alas, linking to music is somehow illegal.

It is a shame that the laws are so broken in those ways.