By Star Chang, posted Mar 5, 2011 at 11:01 AM, 509 views,

Baidu and Taobao On U.S. Government “Notorious” List

It is starting to get harder for any western trading company or individual to gain trust and integrity in China online marketplaces. Two of the China’s most-popular websites, Baidu.com and Taobao.com were named “notorious markets” by the U.S. Trade Representative for helping sustain piracy and counterfeiting. The biggest Internet search engine and biggest online retailer from China were identified for helping the illegal sale of goods or materials protected by copyright or patents…

According to USTR, Baidu’s deep linking to online locations containing allegedly infringing materials is the company’s biggest problem. In the past, music companies have complained Baidu.com for providing Chinese internet users an easy method to find and download music and movies. For Taobao.com, USTR states that they are making significant efforts to address the availability of infringing goods through its website, but it still has a long way to go in order to resolve the problems. Taobao.com was owned by Alibaba, last month the company has disclosed widespread fraud on its online marketplace that connects mostly China suppliers with buyers around the world. The CEO and COO has resigned after the disclosure.

No official response from either Taobao.com or Baidu.com at the moment, but the Chinese authorities has already stand out and disagree the U.S. report. The Chinese analysts said that the trading of unauthorized goods is a problem which should be solved through lawsuits, instead of political accusation, they further argued that eBay also have problems with piracy and counterfeiting, and U.S. is applying double standards in evaluating websites.

This looks like the U.S. authorities has once again, putting embarrassment to the Chinese government, so next, will the Chinese word ‘USTR’ (美国贸易代表) become a sensitive term in China’s internet search? We will see.

Source: USTR, Bloomberg, China Daily