Sharing profits

Launched in November 2009, Baidu's online library offers an open platform for online resource sharing. Users can read or download information for free, and all accumulated resources come from user uploads.

More than 80 percent of its materials involve education information, such as textbooks, tests, professional reference books and materials.

The library also offers reference materials uploaded by others, including sample contracts, tourist and shopping guides, and reviews.

In the past year, it has stocked more than 10 million documents.

"This is a platform for sharing information, not for encouraging piracy," Li Jinfei, director of Baidu's online library, told Xinhua.

Baidu admitted that some netizens could upload pirated content, but this only accounted for a small part of the whole library.

"Only 8 percent of online library documents are related to novels," Zhu Guang, a senior official of Baidu, said Thursday, claiming the library was set up to help people wanting to learn.

Zhu said the online library had more than 100 staff handling piracy complaints.

"Baidu will verify the copyright certification and deal with pirated content within 48 hours of receiving a report," said Zhu.

Under this mechanism, tens of thousands of documents had been deleted in the past year, according to Baidu.

Zhu said Baidu had contacted many publishers and on-line authors to discuss cooperation to actively introduce copyrighted works.

"We will try to set up a reasonable method to share profits with all copyright holders," Zhu said.

Shanda's senior legal affairs official, Chen Mingfeng, told Xinhua Friday that Shanda welcomed Baidu's willingness to respect copyright, saying that the two companies might also cooperate in future.