Fights Broke out Between Two Major Chinese Portals: Analysis

Home>>Business

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 25, 2002

Fights Broke out Between Two Major Chinese Portals: Analysis

Sina.com, a famous Chinese portal, put its rival Sohu.com on court for plagiarism Thursday and demanded a compensation. The case has been accepted by the Second Intermediate People's Court of Beijing.
Reprinting and copying online news is a thing only too common, expert says, but the lawsuit may turn out a good thing if it can rouse concern on protection of online copyrights and promote regulated operation among IT companies.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Sina.com, a famous Chinese portal, put its rival Sohu.com on court for plagiarism, causing no small stir to China's IT industry at the beginning of 2002.

The lawsuit news was released on Sina at 3pm January 24, and Sohu, apparently caught unprepared, remained silent while its president Charles Zhang discussed how to react with senior leaders of the company. Sohu's statement was published quite late.

Sina files lawsuit against Sohu

Sina filed the lawsuit accusing its rival of plagiarism and calling for better copyright protection among all Internet businesses in China, Sina officials said on Thursday.

The Second Intermediate People's Court of Beijing has accepted the case, Sina lawyer Tong Mingyou said.

Sina is demanding that Sohu pay 300,000 yuan (US$36,000) in compensation and apologize for its behaviour on Sohu's website.

Sohu defended itself in a written statement, calling the accusations "groundless" and "ridiculous." It said its short messages came from its own employees, users and partners and was not plagiarized.

Sohu also said it had its own evidence of Sina's unauthorized short messages and might take actions against Sina.

Sohu further said its rival filed suit to deflect attention from internal problems including slow revenue growth and loss of business directions to Sohu.

Sohu did not, however, address the alleged plagiarism of Sina's financial and sports news. (Source: China Daily)

More than a lawsuit

In fact struggles between Sina and Sohu, both open and veiled, are of long standing. With the booming of IT industry a few years ago, Sina, Sohu and Netease, the "Big Three" of Chinese portals, grew rapidly and further listed on the Nasdaq. Meanwhile, three new comers, Tom.com, FM365 and 263, also got fund support and challenged the old "Big Three".

Since 2000, however, Nasdaq index made nosedives and the bubble of Internet economy burst. The cold wave was also felt by domestic IT industry and a time of "website merging and purchasing" fell quickly. A batch of commercial sites were forced to close down or purchased, leaving helpless Internet pioneers in face of fierce capital fighting - actually, a dozen of Sina's leaders had been forced to quit their jobs before Wang Zhidong was "expelled".

Almost all major sites had undergone pains in a transformation period in 2001. without Wang Zhidong, Sina was trying to operate in a new mode. Netease met with financial crisis and was delisted on Nasdaq. While Sohu's president Charles Zhang fortunately escaped from personnel or financial crisis.

After one year's turmoil the line between old and new portals was broken completely. Contents on Netease were changing and FM365 cut staff in a large margin. While Sohu shifted its focus to online news by put out a revised edition of news center.

Charles Zhang once said that Sina firstly grabbed the market of online news when he was raising funds, adding that he spent too much time on team building, which created an experienced managing staff but also resulted in Sohu's relatively weak online news and technology.

But recently Sohu had paid much more energy to news section and its featured news column had doubtlessly challenged Sina's news platform, which has long been enjoying good reputation for its live, prompt news.

Seeing from Sina's specially made page on its accusing and media reports carried on, the lawsuit should be a carefully designed one, experts say. Reprinting and copying online news is a thing only too common, and lawsuits between Internet companies are no longer news.

People are seem more concerned with the fights behind the two portals rather than the lawsuit itself. As a fledging industry the Internet is destined to undergone roads also taken by other industries. The process may be shortened dramatically with stories staged in a much more rapid way. Fighting between Internet companies can not be avoided during the development of IT industry, and it is good if the lawsuit can draw attention to online copyrights and promote regulated operation among IT companies.

By PD Online Staff Li Heng

Questions?Comments? Click here

Portal Leadership Fight Goes on, Wang Threatens Legal Action

Internet Portal Sino.com Dispute Continues

Sina.Com, Sun TV in Merger Deal