Author Archives: Dr. Danny Friedmann

Marks & Clerk Opens Up Shop in Shanghai

Marks & Clerk published a report “Focus on China” which “identified a number of opportunities to take advantage of China’s burgeoning economic activity and expansion in manufacturing that are being missed by western firms. By looking at patent trends across … Continue reading

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International Chamber of Commerce Survey: “China Has Least Favourable IP Environment”

“The first annual BASCAP Global Survey on Counterfeiting and Piracy was conducted by ICC’s Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) initiative, in cooperation with the Cass Business School, part of City University, London. The survey polled 48 companies, … Continue reading

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Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club Too Similar to Beverly Hills Polo Club for a Trademark

Beijing Nr. 1 Intermediate People’s Court confirmed the rejection of the Trade Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) of the application of Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club for a trademark. “[A]lthough the two trademarks had slight differences in English words, … Continue reading

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SIPO: “Digital Radio Standard Will Shake Few Foreign Companies’ Dominance”

SIPO reports that the Ministry of Information Technology released a national standard on multi-channel digital radio coding and decoding technology for the digital radio industry. And it wrote reassuringly: “The standard which be widely used in digital television and digital … Continue reading

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Weak IP or Strong IP in China: Jobs Will be Lost Outside China

Peter K. Yu, associate professor of Michigan State University has written another interesting article: ‘History shows trade protectionism won’t contain China’s auto effort’, using the car industry as illustration. Yu reasons: Rampant infringement of intellectual property in China is costing … Continue reading

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Patent Law Draft About to be Adopted: How Will Patent Law Change?

China Daily’s reports via People’s Daily that China’s third revision of its patent law is drafted. On July 31, 2006 SIPO promulgated the Draft of Amendments to the Patent Law for public comments. Draft amendments to the law were handed … Continue reading

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Controversial Interpretation 2004 Will Be Amended, Stays Controversial

Emma Barraclough reports for Managing Intellectual Property from the Third Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy in Geneva, that the controversial judicial thresholds for criminal enforcement will be amended. First the reasons why the judicial interpretation was controversial will … Continue reading

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Portrait of an Undeterred Copyright Pirate

Geoffrey York wrote for the Globe & Mail a human interest story about a Chinese copyright pirate, who was sentenced twice to prison and spent a total of six years in jail, only to start all over again. Read York’s … Continue reading

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EU Survey: 40 Percent sees China As Biggest IP Threat

The Economist Intelligence Unit published a white paper ‘The Value of Knowledge, European firms and the intellectual property challenge’, after it surveyed 405 European executives about their perceptions of IP. Here are the China relevant quotes: “European IP remains under … Continue reading

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It’s a Samsung, no it’s a Sammeng, no a Samesong …

Chinese counterfeit products piggyback on brand value of Korean companies such as Samsung. The Korea International Trade Associaton (KITA) estimates Chinese fake goods cost Korean export around US$14.2 billion (W1.3 trillion), equivalent to 5 percent of total exports. Read the … Continue reading

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Compulsory Licensing: Philips About to Bring A WTO Case Against Taiwan

Taiwanese company GigaStorage has a conflict with Dutch company Philips about a patent for the manufacturing of CD’s since 1999. After a complaint at the Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission it applied for a compulsory license of Philips’ patent for the … Continue reading

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The Fifty Days Time-limit in China’s Customs Regulations Is Compliant With Article 55 TRIPs

Article 55 TRIPs [1] is the border protection equivalent of article 50 (6) TRIPs. Article 55 TRIPs states that after 10 days the goods in detention shall be released if the applicant was noticed of the suspension and the customs … Continue reading

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Made in China Popular in Korea

Counterfeit Chic has another interesting posting, this time about Korean artist Zinwoo Park’s piece of allegedly art called “Fake”. Read more about it on Counterfeit Chic here. Photo by Buddha Baby.

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IPR: Overseas Parties Have 60 percent Success Rate at Beijing No.1 Intemediate People’s Court

Xie Chuanjiao of China Daily wrote the article International laws applied in local IPR cases, read here. Nothing new really, China has this obligation already since April 12, 1986 when it adopted its General Principles of Civil Law . When … Continue reading

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Learn How to Say Intellectual Property Rights in Mandarin?

IP Dragon is a great fan of Chinesepod.com. Ken Carroll and Jenny Zhu offer daily approximately 10 minute lessons in Mandarin at newbie and elementary level, and Jenny Zhu, John Pasden and Aric Queen the intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced … Continue reading

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HK IP Head: Naughty Public Should Get Benefits

Heda Bayron of Voice of America comes up with a nice Asia Piracy Report, in written form and in streaming video. In the video you see Stephen Selby, the head of Hong Kong’s intellectual property department saying: “The public gets … Continue reading

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China’s Efforts Against Counterfeit Products That Kill

Feng Tao of Xinhua reports the item communicated by the Ministry of Public Security that the PSB dealt with 4,600 cases of counterfeit and inferior products between January and November 2006. Police arrested more than 5,000 people. The question unanswered … Continue reading

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SIPO’s Patent ABC

SIPO is giving 19 answers to 19 questions about patents.On a whole it gives an fast overview of China’s patent law. It is peculiar that SIPO is giving information (Q&A number 19) about the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, … Continue reading

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Pyrrhic Victory For Anti Patent Pool Professors Against Philips

Remember Zhang Ping, the IPR professor of Peking University who in December 2005 attacked a patent of Philips that was part of the 4C DVD pool because it was alleged to be not essential, read here. Emma Barraclough followed the … Continue reading

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Implementing Regulations of Copyright Law 2002

For some time I could not find newer implementing rules of the copyright law of China than those of 1991. That seemed odd to me, since the copyright law has been amended in 2001. So I asked around. Today, David … Continue reading

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Exemplary Patent Enforcement Case At National Hardware Show Las Vegas

Lisa Eckelbecker of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette wrote a very informative article about the way Diamond Machining Technology (DMT), Inc. of Marlboro, Massachusetts, USA, is enforcing its intellectual property rights. DMT’s approach is a good example of a small … Continue reading

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Jail Time For Exporters Of Phones That Are Genuine Inside, Counterfeited Outside

Interfax China reports about four people that were found guilty in October by a people’s court in Guangzhou of infringing trademark rights because they were exporting counterfeit phones. Zhang and Xu were sentenced to nine months and two persons both … Continue reading

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Royal Canadian Mounted Police Warns Against Counterfeit Circuit Breaks, Viagra and Shampoo

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) warned against several counterfeit products from China, Russia and Pakistan causing health and safety risks, reports Robers Fife for CTV. Some of the counterfeit products have high levels of the wrong ingredient: Viagra knock-offs … Continue reading

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FA Premier League Against Trademark Infringers 1:0

Sarah Butler reported for the Times Online about two rulings by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court: The English FA (football association, nowadays called after their sponsor: Barclays) Premier League was victorious in a trademark dispute with Xiangshi Celebration … Continue reading

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Li Ka-shing: Bring IP Offenders to Justice Even At A Loss

The Edge Daily from Malaysia gives a summary of an interview Li Ka-shing, China’s richest man, gave to Forbes Asia. Li Ka-shing invites foreign pharmaceutical companies to partner up with him to integrate low production costs in China with the … Continue reading

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Anticipated Supreme People’s Court Decision in Counterfeit Case Between Montresor and Ferrero

David Eimar reports for The Independent about the much anticipated Supreme People’s Court ruling next month between Montresor’s Tresor Dore and Ferrero Rocher. Eimar points out a salient aspect of the case: “Tresor Dore, a popular Chinese brand of chocolates … Continue reading

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Reaction To Danwei’s Question About Republishing In China

Danwei’s Jeremy Goldkorn has an interesting article about whether it is legal to copy and paste entire news articles, read here. China’s copyright law should be in lign with the Berne Convention of which China is a signatory since July … Continue reading

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Counterfeiters Prevent Other Counterfeiters From Copying Them

Melinda Liu of Newsweek went to Yaxiu shopping mall in Beijing to get a first hand experience of the IPR infringement problem the new “strategic economic dialogue” between China and the United States, among other things such as the US … Continue reading

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Counterfeit Goods and Piracy Segment 2005 in Numbers: The Overview

Douglas (aka Dog McFly) sent me an email pointing out the site of Havoscope. This site shows China’s share in market value of counterfeit and piracy goods, here, based on the numbers of the Quality Brands Protection Committee and the … Continue reading

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Medicine For Protection of Traditional Knowledge Is Patience

Yan Liang of Xinhua Online wrote the article: Greater international co-operation called for traditional knowledge IP protection. It’s about the interregional seminar of the intergovernmental committee on Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources and Traditional Cultural Expressions/Folklore (IGC), in Zhenghzou, organised by … Continue reading

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Last Emperor’s Brother Tried to Claim Personality Rights

88 year old Jin Youzhi tried to claim the personality rights based on article 10 Copyright Law of his brother Aisin Giorro Pu Yi, who was the last emperor of China, to no avail: “Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, … Continue reading

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China Enterprise Copyright Alliance Launched

December 11, six Chinese companies: Shanda Entertainment, Netease, Sina, Microsoft China, Kingsoft and Sunchime Cartoon Group have established the China Enterprise Copyright Alliance. The plan was announced in September during the 2006 International Copyright Forum in Beijing, which was jointly … Continue reading

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China’s TRIPs Compliance Five Years Later: What’s The Score?

Today the USTR issued the 2006 Report to Congress On China’s WTO Compliance, including nine pages (70-79) about China’s intellectual property enforcement. Nothing really surprising, but it gives an overview of China’s compliance with TRIPs through the eyes of the … Continue reading

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Success EVD Format Dependent On Backing Chinese Copyright Pirates

William Moss wrote a good story about China’s answer to HD DVD or Blu-Ray formats: Extended Versatile Disk. “For HD-DVD and Blu-Ray to succeed, movie studios need to support them. But even if the government mandates EVD as the format … Continue reading

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Message of IP Dragon

Ever since IP Dragon upgraded from Blogger to Beta Blogger, there have been problems to incorporate Haloscan’s comment functionality. Until that time you can comment via Blogger comments: if you cannot read Chinese click on the number on the right … Continue reading

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Can Copyright Save Chinese Folklore?

Deming Liu wrote an interesting 14 page essay about the idea to use copyright or a sui generis to salvage Chinese folklore. Liu explains that copyright traditionally is concerned with the creations of individuals rather the cumulative creations of an … Continue reading

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Final Judgement Hennessy Trademark Infringement: No More Sour Grapes in China

Remember the Hennessy trademark infringement case in 2005? See here. March 2005, Jas Hennessy & Co. instituted a proceeding against Zhuhai Xiangmutong Trading Co. Ltd. who sold the cognoc and Xiamen Jin (Golden) Huanya Food Co. Ltd. who bottled it, … Continue reading

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China Outspends Japan in Innovation; IP in China Will Profit

Stan Abrams, Lehman, Lee and Xu lawyer and writer of China Hearsay, wrote an article about China’s newest milestone: that it outspends Japan in research and development. It is expected IP protection and enforcement in China will profit most. Rightly … Continue reading

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“Davee Beekham Do It At Once”

Jeremy Goldkorn posted for Danwei an article of Michael Rank of Trade Marks Directory Service about pirate trademark applications of well-known brands in China. In Guangdong a businessman has applied for the trademark Nike in English and Chinese for toilet … Continue reading

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Is Plagiarism Justified?

Danwei publishes Tianya blogger Guerlangwa/Icegrass Bay about an article of his that was published in New Express, Sanqin Metropolis Daily and Heilongjiang’s Life Daily, without his authorisation. Read Guerlangwa’s article here.

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Counterfeit Spelling Contest How To Write ….

Philips. China is warming up relations with the African continent. One side effect is the growth in Chinese counterfeit products. Oskar Himmelreich made a nice picture in Kumasi, Ghana, August 2006 of a counterfeit mixer of the Dutch multinational with … Continue reading

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Xiangyang Market Is Dead Long Live Puxi and Pudong

Xiangyang market used to be Shanghai’s playground for trademark counterfeiters and copyright pirates. No more, read more here. However, the economics of demand and supply have provided new outlets for these illigit goods. Like a waterbed, the problem has moved … Continue reading

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Mainland, HK and Macau Intellectual Property Symposium

The HK Intellectual Property Department is organising the Symposium in collaboration with SIPO and the Macao SAR Economic Services. The symposium will be held in the Huayun Gloria Grand Hotel Haikou, Hainan province: 12 and 13 December, 2006. The symposium … Continue reading

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Chinese Preemptive Counterfeiters Force Producers To Synchronous Market Introductions

Alex Zaharov-Reutt wrot a very interesting article for ITWire (H/T to Technology writer Mike Elgan of Raw Feed) about Chinese counterfeiters’ preempting the market, before the originals are released in the Chinese market that will trick Chinese buyers into believing … Continue reading

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HK’s Cyberport Becomes IP Training Centre

Hong Kong’s Cyberport finally seems to get a new destination as an IP capital centre, where companies can get training and information about how to manage their IPRs. Initially, in 2000 the plan was that Cyberport would be a place … Continue reading

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Pfizer Accuses Guangzhou Welman Of Copyright Infringement

Pfizer sued Guangzhou Welman for alleged copyright infringement of Viagra reports Forbes. I wonder why Pfizer’s allegations focused on copyright infringement instead of patent infringement, or both. Or is copyright used mistakingly as the prototype of an intellectual property? Read … Continue reading

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Novartis’ Optimistic About IPR in China

Contrary to other pharmaceutical giants Novartis is setting up a research centre in Shanghai, which is a relatively expensive location. Novartis wants to cater to globetrotting scientist, tap the ideas of the local universities and study typical Chinese reactions to … Continue reading

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James Paradise: WTO Case Will Not Start Before North Korean Nuclear Threat Has Ended

James F. Paradise wrote another thought provoking article on AsiaMedia of the UCLA Asia Institute. The innovation of TRIPS compared to WIPO’s conventions (Berne and Paris) is that disputes about enforcement can be dealt with in a binding manner by … Continue reading

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Haier Files 2.6 Patent Applications Per Day

Gao Hucheng, the Vice-Minister of Commerce, wrote an article about the need for China to improve its brands and IPRs in order to become internationally more competitive. Haier, the Chinese posterchild that is taking its brand very serious, “put[s] forth … Continue reading

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Baidu Acquitted Of Charges By HK Music Companies Of Copyright Infringements

In September seven Hong Kong music companies brought against Baidu, the largest search engine of China, a copyright infringement lawsuit. Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court ruled that the accusations did not have adequate legal support. The seven companies were:Universal Music … Continue reading

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