They are at it again. The Record Labels in China are filing suit against Baidu and Sohu for their involvement in aiding piracy by linking to unlicensed music files. The WSJ has a useful summary of the less than successful attempts by the labels to force compliance in the past.

In some ways the situation in China may be a lead indicator of the future of the music industry in the west. Chinese artists derive only a tiny fraction of their income from CD sales, earning their keep instead from events and endorsements. Under that model, what you might call piracy, others might see as free marketing. The Labels probably know that too. Music downloading is such an integral part of the Chinese web experience, and a large proportion of the traffic to sites like Baidu - that I suspect that these law suits have more to do with gaining leverage in negotiations than forcing a change user behavior.

Major League Baseball is ramping up their efforts to broaden awareness of the game in China. The interesting thing is that they are using the Web to do it. The FT reports that they will begin streaming games and other content on a Chinese language website it is creating with BroadWebAsia.

Although still not that popular in China, MLB has actually been a powerful content driver of new platform adoption elsewhere in Asia. One of the earliest deals South Korean Mobile TV operator TU Media did was with the MLB to broadcast games of Korean major leaguer Chanho Park. Ride on the subway in Seoul, and you will observe just how popular watching baseball on mobile phones has become. But don't hold your breath on the mainland catching up anytime soon. While Japan, Korea and Taiwan already send their best players to the US, the game is as yet barely played in China.

Everyone loves a racy, hostile takeover bid. Its been a long time since RJR Nabisco, and given the larger looming shadow of Google in the background - the imminent showdown between YHOO and MSFT has all the hallmarks of high drama.

If you want to see what you can achieve with a massive install base of email and IM customers, take a look at QQ in China. They have leveraged their 200m users into dominance in a wide range of other highly profitable online revenue streams, and none of them have anything to do with paid search.