LONDON (XFN-ASIA) - A music industry body said it would pursue Yahoo China under Chinese law to stop the group from infringing record companies' intellectual property rights.
John Kennedy, chairman and president of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), said in a statement: 'Yahoo China has been blatantly infringing our members' rights. We have started the process and as far as we're concerned we're on track to litigation.'
Kennedy, who was in Beijing yesterday for talks with government officials on the issue, added: 'If negotiation can prevent that, so be it.'
The IFPI wrote to Yahoo China in April on behalf of its member record companies to request it to 'take the necessary steps to stop the infringement' of their rights.
'To date IFPI has received no acceptable response,' the statement read.
As a result, 'IFPI is taking the preliminary steps required by Chinese law for filing a lawsuit.'
According to IFPI, Yahoo China was an mp3 website which offers 'copyrighted songs for download from its service without any permission from the record companies.'
The IFPI is a global recording industry group which represents over 1,400 music companies across the world.
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