Chinese search engine Baidu will introduce anti-piracy technology for its document and books product in May this year.
The move is believed to be in response to demands by authors to remove numerous copyright-infringing books and documents found on its Baidu Library product.
Last week, more than 40 authors signed a letter which said that Baidu allowed free download of the authors’ works on its online library Baidu Wenku, without their permission.
Baidu currently has a market share of about 70% of China’s search market.
In its annual study, the US Trade Representative had pointed out Baidu as a notorious market for pirated content and a marketplace of stolen goods.
Baidu said the technology that took more than four months of research would be tested in April before a full release on 1 May.
Baidu’s spokesman Kaiser Kuo told Reuters, "The technology will not only enable Baidu Library to systematically eliminate copyright-infringing content already uploaded on its platform, but will also enable automatic rejection of future problematic uploads."
