I think a large part of the answer to both of your questions resides in the fact that companies like Baidu and The9.com are publicly traded. They have business models that extend well beyond providing links to unauthorized music, and are not very concerned about losing the hits they get from people looking for music. They are much more concerned about the way threatened copyright infringement lawsuits look on their securities filings and the way threats of litigation impact their reputation among investors.

Very interesting, especially the information about the successful court cases. I wonder if the legal successes are the result of laws that have real teeth, or where the cases were brought to trial (i.e., national, provincial, or local courts)?

Also, this begs the question: how is it possible to get a Chinese Internet company to remove pirated content relatively quickly, but impossible to convince or force a Chinese store or manufacturer to remove or stop making pirated CDs and DVDs, despite many years of complaints, laws, regulations, and court cases?