China said yesterday that it would impose fines of as much as 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) on distributors of illegally copied music, movies and other material over the Internet, a move likely to put pressure on search engines like Baidu.com.

Internet service providers must give the authorities contact information for owners of sites that distribute pirated material, the State Council said in a statement dated May 18 and posted on its Web site yesterday.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, EMI Group and Universal Music Group sued Baidu, the most-used search engine in China, last year for allowing free downloads of their music.

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