Beijing's Haidian district court on Tuesday began hearing a case brought by renowned writer Han Han against search engine Baidu, with the author suing the website for infringing on the copyrights of three of his works.

Han accused Baidu of "stealing" his works by publishing them online and offering them as free downloads as part of its Wenku literary database.

The works involved are "Go Like the Wind," "1988: I Want to Talk With the World" and "Freezing."

Han has asked for 760,000 yuan (119,387 U.S. dollars) in compensation, as well as asked the court to shut down Baidu Wenku. He also asked Baidu to post an apology on its home page for seven consecutive days.

Han did not show up in court. His lawyer said Baidu Wenku provided a channel to disseminate pirated works, an act that has resulted in copyright violations.

The defense's lawyer said the Wenku literary database is simply a place for Internet users to store data.

The hearing lasted for more than four hours. The court did not hand down a judgment.