In brief: Baidu sues Bytedance and Maimai for defamation, copyright infringement

Baidu has filed a 5 million yuan (US$735,000) lawsuit against Bytedance and professional networking platform Maimai for defamation and copyright infringement. According to the Haidian District People’s Court, Baidu filed a complaint over a Maimai ad that appeared on Bytedance’s content aggregator Jinri Toutiao.

The ad contained a play on words alluding to Baidu’s slogan, leading Baidu to accuse Maimai of defaming its reputation. According to reports, the ad used Baidu’s office building as a background with the text: “I heard my company’s culture has changed from simple and reliable [jian dan ke yi lai, 简单可依赖] to simple and shameless [jian dan ke yi lai, 简单可以赖].”

The search giant also said Jinri Toutiao should be held accountable for allowing ads on its platform that feature infringing content.

Source: TechNode