Baidu Sued fenbi.com and Related We-media
According to Netease Technology on August 22, Baidu has formally initiated law proceedings in Beijing Haidian District People’s Court against Xiaolong Zhang, the CEO of Fenbilantian technology co., LTD. (fenbi.com) as well as we-media Coollabs for their serious violation against Baidu‘s reputation. Baidu demanded them to immediately delete infringing contents in their Weibo, WeChat official account, Zhihu and other platforms. Besides, they need to make written and formal apology to eliminate bad effect. Meanwhile, Baidu claims for compensation of 15 million yuan for its economic losses suffered by their actions.
The lawsuit stems from a public relations battle between education Apps Xiaoyuansouti and Zuoyebang. Baidu, one of Zuoyebang’s investors, was also involved in the attack.
According to the official statement from Baidu, Zuoyebang is fully independent corporate entity with independent brand. As one of the investors, Baidu hasn’t participated in its daily operation, nor has it involved in this dispute. However, Baidu was attacked and seriously slandered by Xiaolong Zhang, the CEO of Fenbilantian technology co., LTD. (fenbi.com) as well as some big Vs on social media platforms. After that, Xiaoyuansouti responded to Baidu by saying that it believed Baidu had not participated in the frame, and that Xiaoyuansouti had never said that the frame was the work of Baidu. Xiaoyuansouti also pointed out that the company has not invited any PR company or marketing account to conduct the so-called public relations. As for Xiaolong Zhang’s attack against Baidu on Weibo, Xiaoyuansouti said “(Xiaolong Zhang) he scolded from Baidu Zuoyebang to Baidu, which was really partly emotional. And don’t think it is appropriate”.
In order to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, Baidu has collected evidence and filed a lawsuit in Beijing Haidian District People’s Court. In the suit, Baidu noted that Xiaolong Zhang, the CEO of Fenbilantian technology co., LTD. (fenbi.com) published multiple insults and framed words against Baidu on his Weibo and his words are extremely filthy and vicious; while we-media Coollabs published an article named Baidu Ordered its Employees to Insult the Victims of Earthquake, Spread Pornographic Information to Children and What Baidu won’t do for Money on its WeChat official account. The article contains numerous uninvestigated information which are not the fact and quite insulted. Above related remarks and articles were reposted and widely spread by webs and we-media platforms, followed by a lot of negative comments, which has caused serious damage to Baidu‘s reputation. For this, the Baidu demanded Xiaolong Zhang to compensate 10 million yuan and Coollabs for 5 million yuan. Meanwhile, Baidu demanded relevant parties to immediately delete infringing contents and to make written and formal apology on significant position in all big media so as to eliminate the influence.
This article originally appeared in Netease Technology and was translated by Pandaily.
Click here to read the original Chinese article.
