It's the opposite of shade, unless GP is being sarcastic. "Class act" is normally a compliment, and in the context here it sounds to me like they're congratulating Baidu/the researchers in being transparent about where their ideas came from.
To be fair, I think I see "[real] class act" almost always used sarcastically.
To be fair, I think I see "[real] class act" almost always used sarcastically.