Beijing - A Chinese court has agreed to hear two multi-million dollar copyright infringement claims brought by major record labels against Chinese search engine Baidu, and Web portal Sohu and its Sogou media search engine, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The Beijing Intermediate People's Court will hear a $9 million claim against Baidu brought by Universal Music Group, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG), who will argue that the search engine aids copyright infringement by providing "deep links" to unauthorized downloads on third-party sites.

Shanghai - Following similar actions recently taken by major record labels, two groups representing Chinese musicians have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Baidu, the country's most popular search engine, Reuters reported.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

In the days following Microsoft’s (NASD: MSFT) announcement of its unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid for Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), much of the news focused on the battle between Google and Microsoft to color the other’s motives as anti-competitive. As reports surfaced that Yahoo may try to avoid being acquired by Microsoft by giving control of its search advertising to Google in exchange for a large revenue share (although nothing has made public by either Google or Yahoo on this), Microsoft reportedly began lobbying government officials to block any such deal between the two on antitrust grounds setting the stage for what is likely to be a long and public battle between Google and Microsoft over control of the Internet.

Tokyo - Google (NASD: GOOG) is in talks with Chinese digital music distributor Top100.cn to launch a free music download service in China, and major label Universal Music Group has confirmed its involvement in the negotiations, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Fellow major labels Sony BMG (NYSE: SNE), EMI and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) are also considering joining the venture, people familiar with the matter told The Journal.

Beijing - Three of the major record labels have launched new copyright infringement lawsuits against Chinese search providers Baidu (NASD: BIDU), Sohu.com and Yahoo China (NASD: YHOO), following what record label trade group the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) called "months of fruitless negotiations." Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Hong Kong) (NYSE: SNE), and Warner Music Hong Kong (NYSE: WMG) filed claims in a Beijing court asking the search firms to remove links to unauthorized music files hosted on third-party sites.

Beijing - Baidu, China's largest search engine, has been sued by a Chinese music site that says Baidu links to sites offering free downloads of its copyrighted works, Variety reported. The website 5fad.com seeks $13.2 million in damages and a halt to Baidu's offending links. Baidu was previously sued by the four major record labels on similar charges of providing links to sites that offered free downloads, but was acquitted in court late last year.

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Microsoft Corp. today announced that Katherine Styponias will join the Media & Entertainment Group as general manager, where she will lead the business development team working with major content suppliers. Styponias joins Microsoft from Prudential Equity Group LLC, where she served as senior vice president and the senior cable, entertainment and satellite equity analyst.

Beijing - Google has been granted preliminary approval by the Chinese government to provide Internet content in the country, Reuters reported.

Shanghai - Baidu, the leading search engine in China, has won a license from the Chinese government to provide original news reports on its website, Reuters reported, citing government and industry sources.