Author Archives: Dr. Danny Friedmann

Due to private matters I had to attend IP Dragon was not active in the blogosphere for some time. However, in that time I did go to Zürich and met an interesting IPR scholar. Anyhow, I will resume blogging soon. … Continue reading →

Mark Barton and Warren Giles wrote the article “Mandelson warns China on trademark violations” for Bloomberg and South Africa’s Business Day is running the story. They wrote: ““The law exists, but it needs to be enforced,” Mandelson said of China’s … Continue reading →

In December 2005 IP Dragon blogged about a trial by the governement of Guangzhou to charge Karaoke parlors. According to the Pacific Epoch the Guangzhou governement was leaning towards a one Yuan fee for each time a song is played. … Continue reading →

Last year Chan Nai-ming, BitTorrent uploader under the alias Big Crook was sentenced to three months in jail by an Hong Kong court. Chan was out on bail until his appeal, which began September 26th. “At the hearing the defence … Continue reading →

National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council (NIPLECC), which consists of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; the Department of Commerce, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the International Trade Administration; the Department of Homeland Security, which … Continue reading →

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId= This video suggests that pirated DVDs are sold right next to a policie station. It’s a pity that when the camera goes inside the alleged pirated DVD store the quality is very bad, so we cannot verify the claim. … Continue reading →

Ray Parry, editor-in-chief of counterfeit.com, wrote an interesting article: The Great Gall of China? Counterfeit.com is according to the site an online voice for the anti-counterfeiting industry. Parry proposes the following as a proactive, deterrent-type, IP protection programme specifically addressing … Continue reading →

This week the “usual suspects” are Counterfeit Chic and China Law Blog. Their postings about intellectual property in China were concentrated on Tuesday. Monday, September 25Tuesday, September 26Counterfeit Chic’ Knockoff News 33 supplied a mer à boire for IPR in … Continue reading →

Emma Moore, an expat from New Zealand living in China, wrote an interesting article called The Chinese Rip Off for Scoop. She is discussing the 100 Day Campaign Against Piracy that started July 15, 2006: “This week, government officials announced … Continue reading →

The World Economic Forum launced its Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007. As country highlights the following text is given in case of China: “China’s ranking has fallen from 48 to 54, characterized by a heterogeneous performance. On the positive side, China’s … Continue reading →

Jonathan Hopfner reports for the Electronic Engineering Times about what Philip Koh, a Singapore-based research vice president with analyst firm Gartner, forcasted a week ago about the semiconductor industry. “China will account for 60 percent of the $118 billion Asian … Continue reading →

The US Patent and Trademark Office is inviting you to Boston, Massachusetts for a two day conference (September 27-28, 2006) about protecting IPR in China and the globabal marketplace. See here. Head tip to Philip Brooks’ Patent Infringement Updates. If … Continue reading →

Within the next two to three months Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is planning to open an office in Beijing, according to Amanda Bronstad in the China Trade Law Report, who interviewed the firm’s chairman, R. Bruce McLean, … Continue reading →

China Confucius Foundation has commissioned a statute in Qufu, the birth place of the great sage. To standardise the image of Confucius the world over, the statute will be used as the official copyrighted image.Read the Xinhua article here and … Continue reading →

The Digital Chosun Ilbo reports some staggering statistics of counterfeit goods entering South Korea. The writer of this article, who remains unknown, uses a splendid euphemism for trademark infringement: sincere flattery. According to the Chosun Ilbo, the Korea Customs Service … Continue reading →

Managing IP has made a ranking of the law firms and patent and trademark agencies in Asia, Europe and the US, based on the number of IP practitioners. The biggest lawfirm of Asia is not a Chinese lawfirm, as one … Continue reading →

Monday, September 18 IP Dragon posted in June Debunking the Chinese Tourist in Europe Story. But now Susan Scafidi of Counterfeit Chic posted a Flickr picture in her Knockoff News 32 that seems to at least partly debunk the debunking … Continue reading →

Monday, September 11 Tuesday, September 12 Richard Kuslan of Asia Business Intelligence is talking about main stream book stores and that one cannot expect rapid and radical change in intellectual property rights consciousness. His posting is entitled Pirated Editions and … Continue reading →

Monday, September 4 Tuesday, September 5 Wednesday, September 6 China Law Blog refers in the article Is A Cigar In China Really Just a Cigar? to a number of blog postings about the business/finance perspective on IPR. Thursday, September 7 … Continue reading →

Mice Love Rice Copyright Dispute Solved Yang Chengang, the composer of the song Mice Love Rice, must have thought that companies and singers are like mice and the assignment of the copyright of his song like rice. But instead of … Continue reading →

Wen Jiabao visited Helsinki, Finland for the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM). The full transcript of an interview with the Chinese premier was covered by The Times and published by The Australian. One question (question 4) was about IPR: What steps … Continue reading →

African News Dimension wrote an article entitled: “China blamed for killing Nigerian economy”. The Nigerian commerce minister Aliyu Modibo displayed the original Nigerian Wax materials and faked Chinese samples presented to him by the leadership of the Association of Textile … Continue reading →

Aaron Tan questioned whether China and other Asian countries warm up to intellectual property in an article for Silicon.com. During the Global Forum on IP in Singapore the panel drew the conclusion that IPR are valued by Asian companies, albeit … Continue reading →

Anna-Lucille Montgomery is a doctoral candidate and researcher at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia’s Creative Industries Research and Applications Center. She is writing Copyright, Creativity and Economic Development – Intellectual Property and the Creative Industries in Post-WTO China. Now … Continue reading →

The spirit of Bruce Lee is alive and kicking. After Bruce Lee’s untimely death, on July 20, 1973, there were no statutes erected in Hong Kong (there was only a Bruce Lee Café, run by Jon Ben, which had the … Continue reading →

Garry Wiseman project leader of Window Live Expo, a free classified service provided by Microsoft, blogged that Sino.com has unauthorisedly copied parts of its old lay-out. However, recently Wiseman has withdrawn the posting, see here why. According to Big Mouth … Continue reading →

IP Dragon is honoured and humbled that it is nominated for best Asia Business/Economics Blog Q1 2006/2007 by the Asia Blog Awards. IP Dragon is a happily surprised, because it is focused on China, rather Asia, and although it has … Continue reading →

A Knowledge Expert Says (And A Journalist Quotes) The Darndest Things Waltraut Ritter, director of Knowledge Enterprises, spoke Wednesday at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa Schusterman Center as part of the university’s Renaissance Project, an initiative to encourage discussion of modern … Continue reading →

Friday, August 25 Saterday, August 26Internet, that sea of info gives and takes. To my regret Asia Business Law is no more. However Christopher Cassidy and Travis Hodgkins are continuing somewhere else, and Christopher Pitts and Jason Lohr might return, … Continue reading →

Yesterday you could read here that Thelen Reid & Priest opened an office in Shanghai. Now Perkins Coie is opening their second office in China. After Beijing it is opening an office in Shanghai, located within the Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech … Continue reading →

The US International Trade Commission is investigating a complaint by Zippo Manufacturing Co, Inc. of Bradford, Pennsylvania and Zippmark, Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware. Complaint was filed May 16, 2006 under section 337 of the Tarif Act of 1930, as amended, … Continue reading →

China is pushing innovation. It wants to move on from the ‘made in China’ phase to the ‘designed in China’ and ‘invented in China’ phase. To see if Shanghai is moving in the right direction it has developed a creativity … Continue reading →

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd (TSMC) has again filed a law suit against China’s SMIC for misapprobiating of trade secrets. The law suit will take place in the US. ““SMIC has violated an agreement with our company set in 2005 … Continue reading →

Thelen Reid & Priest LLP, attorneys at law for 80 years, announced the opening of an office in Shanghai. Read the press release here. Ms Utterback is resident at the Shanghai office: “Meg Utterback studied law at China People’s University … Continue reading →

Today, Professor Zhang Naigen of Fudan University put a very interesting presentation online on China’s IP Laws Post WTO: New Developments. He outlines a survey of recent changes in IP laws in China, new rules for well-known trademarks and new … Continue reading →

“Wei2 (喂)? Is what you say in Chinese when you answer the phone. Liu Li reports for the China Daily that a nationwide reporting and complaining hotline (12312) was established yesterday, that should be an answer to IPR infringements. “[..] … Continue reading →

Austrialian Manufacturing and China: Deepening Engagement is the title of the Australian Industry Group’s 2006 China study, which is based on a survey of 700 Austrailian manufacturers with a total sales of 25.5 billion Australian dollars. In chapter 6.2 Non-tariff … Continue reading →

Tim Johnson, wrote an interesting article about IPR litigation that percentage wise is almost an all-Chinese affaire. Head tip to: China Business Services (a business consultancy in Beijing, Shanghai and London). Johnson has covered the travails of Foshan Rifeng and … Continue reading →

Taiwan’s China Post has an article about the Film Industry Response Group, a HK industry group that is clamping down on movie piracy, threatening to sue 42 illegal downloaders, which they can avoid by paying US $ 3,000 and never … Continue reading →

TransWorldNews wrote that Homer Simpson is persona non grata in Chinese prime time. The US TV series The Simpsons, of which Homer is one of the protagonists, is banned from Chinese TV (between 5-8 p.m.), not because Homer drinks too … Continue reading →

Danwei published an interesting article of Beijing bureau chief of Red Herring Kaiser Kuo. Kuo is looking at the benefits of copyright infringement:“Piracy has provided an inexhaustible source of inspiration for musicians and filmmakers, raising the bar significantly for them, … Continue reading →

According to the Chinese Movie Copyright Association, Chinese TV stations air up to 1,500 pirated Chinese movies a year, costing studios up to $9.4 million in lost revenues, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday. ““The number of movies illegally … Continue reading →

Yangtze Yan of Xinhua wrote about the General Administration of Customs (GAC) statistics over the first half of 2006. 1,076 cases of intellectual property rights were prosecuted; 39 million fakes were seized with a total value of more than 68 … Continue reading →