Youku.com, China's largest online video company, filed a lawsuit against its No.1 rival, Tudou Holdings Ltd, saying it incurred losses because of claims by Tudou that Youku had misused copyrighted material, the government-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

根据新华社周四的报道，中国在线视频网站老大优酷网状告其的竞争对手土豆网，因认为土豆网召开著作权索赔记者发布会从而导致优酷网股价大跌。

The suit, which intensifies the battle over hugely popular online video viewing in China, said the claims by Tudou caused Youku's share price and advertising revenue to decline, and raised concerns among investors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Xinhua said.

这起诉讼也反映出了中国在线视频网站的激烈竞争。优酷网发表的声明称，由于土豆网的行为导致其股价下跌，广告减少，并且引起投资者和美国证监会的关注。

Youku is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Tudou on Nasdaq.

优酷网是纽约证交所的上市公司，而土豆网在纳斯达克上市。

Tudou engaged in "commercial speculation and unfair competitive practices," Youku claimed, and said it is seeking an apology and 4.8 million yuan ($762,000) in compensation, Xinhua said.

优酷网认为，土豆网的做法属于“炒作和恶意竞争”，并要求公开道歉，索偿480万元人民币。

The two online sites are engaged in a heated battle for advertising revenue in China's online video market, which is estimated to be worth 1 billion yuan ($159 million) and is expected to grow at a double-digit rate.

两大在线视频网站巨头正在争夺的就是中国在线视频商业广告收入的这块大蛋糕，据悉，目前在线视频商业广告收入约为10亿元人民币，而且正在以两位数的涨幅不断扩大。

The row began in December when the two sites traded accusations of stealing and reposting videos from each other's sites. Each said they would initiate legal action against the other for copyright infringement.

事情起因是，从去年12月开始，两个网站互相状告对方盗版自己拥有版权的视频节目。而且两家都声称会采取法律行动来制止对方的侵权行为。

Chinese government estimates put the number of internet users in China at half a billion. Some 325 million Chinese watched online video last year, Xinhua quoted the China Internet Network Information Centre as saying. Despite the fast-growing number of viewers, online video companies in China have been losing money because of rising costs for programming, marketing and bandwidth, Xinhua said.

新华社援引中国互联网信息中心的数据表示，中国现有约5亿网民，其中约有3亿2500万网民在去年观看过在线视频。尽管观众人数不断高速增长，但是中国的在线视频网站却因制作、推广和带宽成本的上升而在不断地赔钱。