Author Archives: Dr. Danny Friedmann

Confucius Institute Has Already Apologised And Removed China Expat Copyrighted Content From Its Site

The Confucius Institute online has already removed the copyrighted content of China Expat that was published unauthorisedly on its site. They want to talk with China Expat in the future to see whether they can start a partnership. IP Dragon … Continue reading

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Is Infringing IPR Promoting a Greater Understanding of Chinese Culture?

Josh Gartner of China Expat asks himself the following questions: Why is the Confucius Institute Online Stealing Content? Referring to the content this institute unauthorisedly copied from China Expat, well documented on the site of China Expat. The Confucius Institute, … Continue reading

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“Too Many Fake Antiquities To Smash” Says TV Show Creator

Bian Yiwen, creator of TV show ‘Collecting Everything Under Heaven’ whereby the expert tells whether an antiquity is real of fake and will smash the fake one directly, said that there were too many fake submissions to smash them all. … Continue reading

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IP Protection in China Challenge Peanuts Compared to China’s Environmental Challenge, Though Parallels Abound

I got an email from Erica Schlaikjer of Responsible China, which “focuses on environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility in Greater China.” A great site. Now what has IP protection to do with the environment? I wrote it before and … Continue reading

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Sino-American WTO Consultations Disaster, Blame Game Ensues

April 10, the US filed two formal complaints against China at the WTO, one for unsufficient IP and one for lack of market access for copyrighted goods. After a formal complaint at the WTO the two parties had 60 days … Continue reading

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Cartoon Sanmao Will Be Adapted Into Real Life Actors Film

Joel Martinsen of Danwei has a fine interview with the right holder of the copyright of cartoon hero Sanmao (三毛) which means literally three hairs, characteristic for the cartoon protagonist. The article implicitly illustrates some of the aspects of a … Continue reading

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Netfilm.cn Is Making a Clean Sweep in Guangzhou Netcafes

China Tech News reports about Netfilm.cn, a big copyright holder who filed a lawsuit against 379 netcafes in Guangzhou for alleged infringing of copyrights by downloading online videos. Netfilm.cn is taking online copyright infringement pretty serious and their approach is … Continue reading

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Ohio Senator Says The Darndest Things About IP Enforcement And Introduced Section 522

“I think it’s extremely important to let the world know, that we have a group of people that gets up early in the morning and goes to bed late at night that are enforcing our intellectual property right laws.” Sounds … Continue reading

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Reaction to Shaun Rein: Consumers Not Always Fake It ‘Till They Can Make It

Shaun Rein of China Market Research Group wrote an interesting article ‘How to Win the China Piracy Battle’ for BusinessWeek, see here. Mr. Rein asserts: If a company wants to have success in China, in the face of counterfeit and … Continue reading

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Blogroll Update: China’s Accession to IP Treaties

IP Dragon’s blogroll is updated. See ‘Treaties (in force)’ on your right hand side. Now it includes all IP treaties of WIPO and WTO (and UN’s Vienna Treaty Convention crucial for the interpretation of treaties) which China has acceded to … Continue reading

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Geographical Indications Go China

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing have organised an international symposium on geographical indictions (GI), from June 26 to 28, 2007. What is … Continue reading

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Blogroll Update: Hong Kong’s IP Ordinances

IP Dragon has updated its blogroll by including relevant IP Law (or rather ordinances) of Hong Kong. See, on your right hand, under treaties.

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China’s Wish To Circumvent 3G Royalties Has Its Price

December 29, 2005 IP Dragon referred to China’s efforts to come up with their own version of 3G telephony to avoid paying royalties to foreign patent right holders, see here. According to the Economist of June 14th, China has committed … Continue reading

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Brandjacking Brand Value Down The Drain

Jeff Roberts of McGill’s CIPP’s “IP News This Week”, your 5-minute report of the latest IP news from around the world, pointed me again to an interesting article, this time about brandjacking in China. Read the article ‘Bleach, By Yves … Continue reading

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Reaction to Danwei Article About China’s Ratification of WIPO’s Internet Treaties

Ms. Maya Alexandri wrote an interesting article called ‘Copyright protection for online content’ for Danwei. Referring to China’s accession and ratification (June 9, 2007) of WIPO’s Copyright Treaty (WCT) and WIPO’s Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) a report by the … Continue reading

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3 of Baker McKenzie’s Cases Elected By Supreme People’s Court As 2006 Top 10 IPR Cases

Three of the ‘ Top ten cases’ in 2006 elected by the Supreme People’s Court concerns cases won by Baker & McKenzie: Sony Corporation versus Guangzhou Top Power Electronics Co., Ltd.; Starbucks versus Shanghai Xinbake Coffee Shop Ltd; Prada, Chanel, … Continue reading

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Supreme People’s Court Awards Yamaha Highest Damages in Piracy Case

雅马哈 Shu-Ching Jean Chen wrote for Forbes the article ‘Yamaha Copycat Crashes in Court’. “The Chinese company, Zhejiang Huatian, registered a shell company in Japan’s remote Ishikawa prefecture in 2000 under the same three characters used by Yamaha to render … Continue reading

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Play Fair 2008: “Genuine Olympic Goods Made By Children”

The moral implication of buying counterfeited or pirated goods is not only that they infringe the IPRs of the owners, but that it might be manufactured by children, in bad working conditions, pollute the environment etc. There is a total … Continue reading

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Moutai Brews Up 3+2+1 Anti-Counterfeit Technology

China Corporate Social Responsiblity (China CSR) reports that Kweichow Moutai, the brewery of China’s national Moutai liquor, will formally initiate its anti-counterfeit system on July 1. “Kweichow Moutai’s anti-counterfeit ebonite (IP Dragon: a hard nonresilient rubber formed by vulcanizing natural … Continue reading

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Imported Fish Coming From Everywhere But Norway Labeled Norwegian Fish in China

Norway, has a problem exporting fish to China. Not because this Nordic country nosedived in the Environmental Performance Index 2006 from the second best ranking in the world in 2005 to 18th position, because of severe overfishing. And not because … Continue reading

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Whisky On the Rise in China, So is Counterfeit Whisky

Whisky is becoming more popular in China for who can afford it. In 2006, China became a world top 10 whisky drinking nation, when total sales hit 58.2 million pounds (115 million dollars), an increase of 27 percent over 2005, … Continue reading

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Warning:Drunkeness Or IP Infringement Can Cause Severe Spelling Problems

Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewer of Corona beer probably sobered up when it discovered 24 million bottles of Chinese Cerono beer. Jeremy Phillips of IP Kat reports the story here.

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Patent Examiner SIPO Blogs

I got an email from Cliff Zhao, Patent Examiner of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO)who is also a translator. Mr Zhao set up a Chinese/English blog called Intellectual Property in China 知识产权与中国发展 about intellectual property policy in China. Recently … Continue reading

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How To Measure IP Enforcement: Enforcement/Infringement Ratio and “Data Data and Data”

One of the recommendations of my upcoming thesis called: ‘Paper Tiger or Roaring Dragon? China’s TRIPs Implementations and Enforcement‘ is the need to increase transparency about IP enforcement (and of course it is the raison d’être of IP Dragon). To … Continue reading

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8th Annual IEEM IP Seminar in Macau

Professor Anselm Kamperman Sanders of the Maastricht University, the Netherlands, informed me about The International Intellectual Property Law and Pharmaceuticals conference organised by Dr. Christopher Heath, Member of the Boards of Appeal at the European Patent Office (EPO) and himself. … Continue reading

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Customs Auction Notice To Prevent Infringing Goods Reentering Channels of Commerce

Just before the US made two formal complaints against China at the WTO on April 10, 2007 (the WTO cases are: China – Measures affecting the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, Request for Consultations by the United States, … Continue reading

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Inside the Dragon’s Den: Observations from a Counterfeit Watch Factory

Shenzhen based journalist and blogger (Shenzhen Zen) Justin Mitchell embedded himself for online publication Asia Sentinel inside a counterfeit watch factory in Shenzhen that sells them under brands such as Rolex, Seiko, Omega, Fossil and Tag Heuer, BMW, Bacardi, Dunhill, … Continue reading

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Suspected Ringleader of Counterfeit Computer Network Equipment Finally Caught

In September a succesful joint operation was carried out by the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau and private security firm I-OnAsia. US$ 25 million worth of counterfeit computer network equipment (sold under international brands such as Nortel, Cisco Systems and Hewlett … Continue reading

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Who cloned who: iPhone versus P168

According to Newlaunces Apple’s iPhone has “inspired” many rip-offs. Read and see an alleged Chinese clone called P168 at Newlaunches here. Until there is more proof one cannot exclude the possibility that the iPhone is a P168 clone. Update: Sir … Continue reading

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IP in China: Tight Rope Dancing Act

(Picture taken in South Korea by S. Straub) Xiao Liang, researcher with the Institute of World Economics andPolitics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, urges to balance all interests when dealing with the issue of IPR protection:“1. The relationship … Continue reading

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How to work within China’s IPR enforcement system for trademark and design rights

Protection and enforcement of intellectual property in China is of crucial importance to a growing number of companies worldwide, including those in the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg). This fact is acknowledged by the quarterly Benelux Merken- en Modellen Bulletin, … Continue reading

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BitTorrent Uploader Loses Final Appeal

Remember the BitTorrent uploader in Hong Kong, who knick named himself Big Crook, and was sentenced three months in prison? Read more here. He lost his appeal in December 2006 and now his final appeal. Peter Ollier of Managing Intellectual … Continue reading

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The Economist’s Lax Attitude Towards IPR in China

The cover story of the Economist (May, 19th-25th) is entitled America’s fear of China, it’s about whether a revaluation of the yuan would do much for the US (not much in the opinion of the Economist). This article is introduced … Continue reading

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Let’s Baidu The Word Genericide

Joel Martinsen has a great post about search engine Baidu which stimulates others to use Baidu as a verb instead of a name of a brand, but by doing so inadvertently increasing the risk the brand name is used to … Continue reading

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Italian Intelligence Service: “Chinese Hackers Steal Fashion Ideas”

John Philips of the Washington Times reports about the news of the Italian domestic intelligence service that Chinese hackers were after the ideas of fashion houses in order to counterfeit them. Of course, one should make a distinction between ideas … Continue reading

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Peter Yu’s Response to HK’s Consultation on Copyright Reform

Hong Kong, as any jurisdiction, wrestles with the question of how to adapt to the ever changing demands and challenges of copyright law in the digital era. The Hong Kong government has publised its ‘Consultation on Copyright Protection in the … Continue reading

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Japanese Video: Overview IP in China

Not in the mood for reading, but you want to get an overview of IP in China? Watch the following Japanese news item with an English voice-over about IP in China here.

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Spelling Guide For Creatively Challenged Counterfeiters

Whether ‘creatively challenged counterfeiters’ is a pleonasm or not, one might be able to distinguish different grades of their creativity deficit. Some will just hustle a little with the word order; Adidas for example becomes: DAIADS; Puma becomes PMUA.The ones … Continue reading

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Cost of Piracy Overestimated Says OECD, Underestimated Says ICC

Steve Whitehouse of Thomson Financial reports about an unpublished Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study which puts trade losses in 2005 at up to 200 billion US dollar, considerably lower than the 600 billion US dollars estimated by … Continue reading

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Shanghai, Asia-Pacific’s Capital of the Intellectual Property Trade

Winnie Wang of the Shanghai Daily writes that 50 million Yuan in intellectual property rights were traded in Shanghai last year. Read more here.

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High Quality Counterfeit Jeans Ring in California Stopped

abc7.com reports in text and with a video about a counterfeit Jeans ring busted in Orange County, California, USA. In the gated community of Coto de Caza 200 pairs of counterfeit jeans were yielded, that are believed to be made … Continue reading

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“Disney Is Too Far”, Let’s Start An Unauthorised State-Owned Amusement Park

In 2005 the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort was opened. It was build by the Government of Hong Kong and the Walt Disney Company. So far it is the only Disney related amusement park in China. Or so we thought. Japanese … Continue reading

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Why China Should Stop Burning Books In The Name of Intellectual Property Protection

Especially after the US filed formal complaints against China at the WTO in repect to China’s IPR protection and enforcement and China’s market access, April 10th, China wants to show that it is serious about protecting and enforcing IPR. That … Continue reading

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Suny Ericssun: Wrong Phone Number, eeh, Name

Remember the story about the counterfeit Nokia, see here, Maximus of Just Another Mobile Phone Blog, has another great story about a mobile that is called not Sony Ericsson, but Suny Ericssun. Because of the similarity, this is a good … Continue reading

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2007 Special 301 Report Presents Special Provincial Review of China

It’s that time of the year again. The USTR’s presents its annual Special 301 Report. Which countries have protected and enforced their IPR adequately and effectively and which have not. The risers, the fallers and the usual suspects, such as … Continue reading

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WIPO Internet Treaties Details and Reservation

In April of 2006, China was expected to ratify WIPO’s internet treaties (WIPO Copyright Treaty and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty) in the second half of 2006, read here. However, China acceded only March 9, 2007 and it will ratify … Continue reading

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MPAA Victorious Against Shanghai Leying; So Far Damages Have Been Peanuts

So far three out of the seven American film production companies won in piracy cases in Shanghai, March 7, 2007. The Chinese Law Digest found this story in the Shanghai Youth Daily (Chinese): “Initiated by the Motion Picture Association of … Continue reading

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Yahoo! China Ruling Shows Responsibility Sites For Removing Infringing Material

Remember the story about the allegations of copyright infringements (mp3 and ringtones) against Yahoo! China by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in March, 2006? Read here. The case was heard by the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People’s Court … Continue reading

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Microsoft Starts Selling 3 $ Starter Editions to Governments and Students in China

Jack Schofield reports for the Guardian Unlimited about Microsofts offer to Chinese governements and students to buy a stripped down version of Windows XP (Starter Edition) and Office (Home and Student 2007) for 3 US dollar. Schofield asserts that piracy … Continue reading

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Allegations by Mainland Chinese of HK Counterfeiting Lead To New Consumer Protection for Mainland Chinese in HK

The South China Morning Post, by only offering subscription based articles, has de facto isolated itself from the blogosphere. However, their podcasts are free. So here is the transcription of a remarkable news item related to IPR: “In City News, … Continue reading

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