Baidu and NavInfo were embroiled in a legal battle over electronic map infringement, with Baidu losing in the first instance. The Beijing Intellectual Property Court ruled that Baidu infringed and should compensate for losses and eliminate the impact. Baidu appealed the decision, but the Beijing High People’s Court recently upheld the original ruling. On Thursday (8th), three companies, including Beijing Baidu Netcom Technology Co., Ltd., Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., and Baidu Cloud Computing Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., publicly issued apology statements in the media to NavInfo. Additionally, Baidu is required to compensate for economic losses amounting to 64.5 million yuan.
The apology statement indicated that NavInfo filed a copyright infringement and unfair competition dispute with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court in November 2017. In November 2020, the court ruled in the first instance, finding Baidu guilty of infringement and liable for compensation and elimination of the impact. Baidu disagreed with the first-instance judgment and appealed, but the Beijing High People’s Court upheld the original decision. In the apology statement, Baidu stated that it voluntarily complied with all the provisions of the Civil Judgment No. (2017) Jing 73 Min Chu 1914. Now, in accordance with the second item of the main text of that judgment, Baidu publicly apologizes to NavInfo.
On January 9th, NavInfo announced that it had received the “Civil Judgment” from the Beijing High People’s Court, declaring victory in the final appeal against Baidu for copyright infringement and unfair competition. The final judgment dismissed the appeal and upheld the original ruling. According to the publicly disclosed judgment by NavInfo, in addition to publishing a public apology, Baidu is required to compensate for economic losses of 64.5 million yuan, reasonable expenses of 926,600 yuan, and cease infringing on NavInfo’s related graphical works copyrights.
Baidu had previously stated that after the termination of its contract with NavInfo in 2016, it used self-collected data, not data from NavInfo. Public records show that NavInfo was established in 2002 and is a leader in the field of navigation maps, dynamic traffic information, and customized vehicle networking solutions for passenger and commercial vehicles.
NavInfo, on the other hand, stated that it had been conducting business cooperation in the field of electronic map data with two companies from Baidu since 2009, and a cooperation agreement was reached in 2013. According to the agreement, NavInfo authorized the two companies to use its electronic map works within the agreed scope and pay the corresponding license fees to NavInfo. The contract was valid until the end of 2016. However, after the contract expired, the two parties did not renew it. Despite the termination of the agreement, Baidu continued to use the electronic maps provided by NavInfo and provided electronic map products to the public through computer terminals, mobile terminals, and other means, as well as providing electronic maps in car-related applications beyond the original contract scope.