In 2006, a memorandum of understanding with a number of media industry associations to help fight unauthorized distribution and protect online copyright was signed.
In April 2007, the United States government filed action against China with the World Trade Organization for violating intellectual property rights.
[citation needed] The suit was brought because it was believed the Chinese government was not acting against copyright infringement as a criminal offense.
1 Intermediate People's Court made the decision to allow suits to be brought against two of China's leading search engines, Baidu and Sogou.
[10] “Baidu is China’s largest violator of music copyrights, generating huge revenue by deliberately providing access to illegal content,” John Kennedy, Chairman and Chief Executive of IFPI, said in a statement in April.
[14] The IFPI lost a similar case months earlier against Baidu when a Beijing court accepted the company's argument that it's simply providing a link to third-party content.
Google has recently partnered with the Yao Ming-founded online music provider Top100.cn to make some headway in the Chinese market.