tionalism and corruption.
When Baidu issued its IPO in late 2005, about one-third of Baidu's users were music fans using the site's online music file-sharing service, which operated much like Napster.
Baidu didn't earn revenue from the music downloads, but music attracted tens of millions of Chinese to its site and helped make it the No. 1 search engine player. As an American company bound by U.S. laws protecting intellectual property, this growth tactic was not open to Google.
Music companies, of course, hate Baidu's music-sharing site. The major labels such as EMI, Warner Music Group and Vivendi's Universal Music have tried suing local sites that allowed illegal downloading, including Baidu, with minimal success in court and little support from Chinese consumers.