Author Archives: Dr. Danny Friedmann

Remember the blog on July 21 about a Marketplace Public Radio programme about a Chinese trademark squatter that wanted a ransom from the US Public Broadcasting Service? Read here. Well, in this radio programme (that is in audio and in … Continue reading →

Role Local Authorities Underexposed In Wilson’s Article Doug Wilson is trying to wake up America, in an article for Townhall.com. First he writes about Foxconn, which is supposed to be China’s largest manufacturing plant, with 190.000 female workers. Then he … Continue reading →

Australia’s Challenges With Chinese Counterfeit Imports Dan Harrison (not to be confused with Dan Harris of China Law Blog) wrote for The Age an article about counterfeit imports that plague Australia. Australian Customs is doing a fine job. But according … Continue reading →

Zinedine Zidane Head-Butted By Trademark?“Zhao Xiaokai, general manager of a sport-related company, paid 2,000 yuan ($250) to register the trademark — a silhouette of Zidane head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi’s chest — for shoes, hats and beer products, the Beijing … Continue reading →

Is Harvard’s Digital Media Exchange The Solution To Online Piracy In China? Kristin Eliasberg wrote the interesting article ‘Digital pathways to Asia’ for the Havard Law bulletin. He’s focusing on the research of the Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for … Continue reading →

In many countries only the uploading of unauthorised copyrighted content is banned. As of July 1, 2006, the Protection of the Right of Communication through the Network is effective which bans both up- and downloading of pirated content. The People’s … Continue reading →

In March Oong Boon Kiat wrote that China is pushing for its own RFID standard in order to get its own intellectual property rights, see here. The Chinese RFID standard was expected to be ready in 2008. Now Mike Clendenin … Continue reading →

Christos Papakyriacou, managing director of independent electronic distributor Alpha Micro Components, has some advice on how to avoid purchasing counterfeit electronic componnents. His first advice: “Try to avoid buying from China, unless it is from a trusted source, it’s our … Continue reading →

Wang Zhenghua wrote for the China Daily about a seminar organised by WIPO, SIPO and the Hunan provincial governement. “In 2005, there were 268 civil IPR disputes related to foreign companies, mainly in such sectors as automobiles, motorcycles, pharmacy, computer … Continue reading →

Zhong Yang Yi Tao (CCTV Channel One), means also “central number one sheath”. Li Zhenyong, wanted to make use of this sexual connotation and applied last January to register the name as trademark for condoms. Interfax China wrote: “An official … Continue reading →

Heeling Sport’s strenuous efforts to enforce its patent and trademark of Heelys (shoes with embedded wheels) in China was covered by Katherine Yung of the Dallas Morning Post and published by York Weekly. Michael Staffaroni CEO of Heeling was disappointed … Continue reading →

Jiji press reported about Japan’s plan to start economic partnership agreements between 16 Asian and Pacific nations to build an economic bloc with a population over 3 billion people and to improve intellectual property protection. Member states should be:Japan, India, … Continue reading →

Austria’s Innovative ‘Innovationsschutzprogramm’ For Patents Will Become Reality Hannes Farnleitner, former federal Minister of Economic Affairs ofAustria said something remarkable in 2005: “We have an international patent documentation office in Vienna. And it is absolutely normal that a very vivid … Continue reading →

Today, the People’s Daily Online put the optimistic title ‘IPR Moves Impress US Official’ above an article about a visit of US Under Secretary for International Trade Franklin L. Lavin to China. “Referring to counterfeiting in China, Lavin told reporters … Continue reading →

The Motion Picture Association has finished an Asia-wide campaign against movie piracy. Results: China: 405 raids; 1,961, 255 pirated optical discs seized Hong Kong: 119 raids; 90 DVD-R burners seized; 56 people arrested Taiwan: 483 optical disc burners seized; 369,117 … Continue reading →

Mondaq’s newsletter has a brief article by Angela Wang & Co. (sollicitors, agents for trademarks) about the new Domain Name Dispute Resolution Measures which came into effect on 17 March 2006. Read here (free subscription required). It’s my humble opinion … Continue reading →

Games site Gamasutra went to Shanghai’s ChinaJoy game exhibition and saw that pirated Xbox 360 titles are widespread. Microsoft is denying that “the core security system has not been broken.” See Redwood’s official response here and Gamasutra’s article here.

Managing IP Magazine (July 10) had nominated four Chinese as most influentual in the field of IPR. Ms. Wu Yi (Vice Premier); Mr. Tian Lipu (Commissioner of SIPO); Mr. Zheng Chengsi (professor at the Law Institute of China Academy of … Continue reading →

Two subcommittees (on Rural Enterprises, Agriculture and Technology and on Tax, Finance and Exports) on the House of Reprentatives have held a joint meeting in the U.S. Congress to consider whether China is enforcing its laws on intellectual property rights … Continue reading →

A retired teacher, called Pan, from Huzhou, Zhejiang Province has invented a pen to beat short sightedness. Read China Daily’s article here.

Jocelyn Ford of Marketplace Public Radio reports about a Chinese Trademark squatter, a lawyer called Hou Songlin, who registered the PBS logo, never mind that PBS is an American non-profit organization facing budget cuts from US Congress. Trademark lawyer Joe … Continue reading →

Reason New censorship for Karaoke: IPR Protection or … Censorship? Mike Magnier wrote a funny article ‘China’s Karaoke Police Have a Request: Do It Mao’s Way‘ for the LA Times, about China’s Ministry of Culture which issued new rules to … Continue reading →

Yahoo run with a Reuters article about Warner Bros. new low budget China filmmaking joint venture “Crazy Stone,” released in cinemas on June 30, then followed with a DVD version selling for as little as 10 yuan ($1.25) just 12 … Continue reading →

Hong Kong has a new think tank: Savantas Policy Institute. Regina Ip, who was the former HK Secretary of Security, is now chairwoman of the board of governors of Savantas (Yahoo Actualités). According to Savantas, HK can be China’s platform … Continue reading →

ChinaTechNews has a short article about Taobao.com, the largest online auction site of China, read it here. It enforces copyright piracy in the following ways: remove counterfeit goods after receiving complaint letters from the brand owners; owners of online stores … Continue reading →

Dan Harris of China Law Blog attended a US Patent and Trademark Office’s seminar about Protecting your IP in China, see here the first of a series. Dan’s first favorite speaker was Kevin Brown, Nike’s director of global band protection … Continue reading →

‘Hong Kong enlists youth to fight piracy’ writes Keith Bradsher for the New York Times, which was published in the International Herald Tribune. Today the ‘Youth Ambassadors campaing’ starts with 1.600 children (in the age of 9-25) pledging their participation … Continue reading →

‘Ginseng Farmers Protect Crop and Reputation’ writes Brian Bull at the VOA News. Wisconsin ginseng farmer Butch Weege told Bull that Chinese officials recently contacted the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin regarding a customer complaint filed with the trade office in … Continue reading →

A short article titled ‘Beijing’s Xiushui Market in a dilemma: fakes still appear’ about Silk Street (Xiushui) market by Chinanews was published on IPR.gov.cn, see here. The article mentioned law suits of the last months and the Memorandum of Understanding … Continue reading →

I got hold of the chapters about the East Asian Countries by Ang Kwee Tiang of Collective Management And Related Rights edited by professor Daniel Gervais of University of Ottowa. Very interesting. Today, I spoke to Buma-Stemra, the Dutch CMO … Continue reading →

Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Hypothesis and Methodology 2.1 HypothesisChina’s alleged non-compliance with TRIPS can be viewed from different angles. One can zoom in on individual Chinese IPR provisions to see whether they violate TRIPS (frog’s perspective). Or one … Continue reading →

CH of Mobimania.com, a French site about mobile gadgets, posted a great article about Chinese mobile phone maker Telsda, which Chinese name consists of three characters, that can be translated with ‘seize the opportunities in the sky’. See what happens … Continue reading →

Joe McDonald wrote for the Associated Press a big article on how Piracy Hurts China’s Own Industries, which was picked up by the Washington Post. McDonalds writes:“Web sites that carry unlicensed copies of CDs often give away the music for … Continue reading →

One News reports about the ongoing discussion in New Zealand whether the Kiwis are too Politically Correct concerning China.Since New Zealand is “not significant on a global stage”, talking about the lack of IPR enforcement or working conditions in China … Continue reading →

Nokia has sued: Shenzhen Telsda Mobile Communication Industry Developing Co Ltd Song Xun Da Zhong Ke Electronic (Shenzhen) Co Ltd and their distributors: Beijing Tongwanbao Commerce & Trade Co Ltd, An Wai Avenue No 2 Branch Beijing Xin Tongwanbao Commerce … Continue reading →

Xiangyang Market in Shanghai, synonymous with counterfeit and pirated products, closed June 30th. But now it seems to have risen out of its ashes, in a hybrid form. The market stalls of Xiangyang meet Taobao, the Consumer-to-Consumer site of Alibaba.com. … Continue reading →

After 300 posts gathering, commenting and sharing about IP in China, it’s time to focus on one aspect in particular: Enforcement. This December 2006 it will be 5 years after China has acceded to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Part … Continue reading →

If you type ‘intellectual property china’ in Google you’ll find: 1. SIPO2. A practical guide for US companies3. An old site of Steven Suranovic that wants to serve as a portal, but has links to advertisments to holiday destinations4. Ben … Continue reading →

The Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong and Guangdong province cooperate together in the protection of copyrights. In 2003 they established the Guangdong-Hong Kong Expert Group on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights. Read the expert group’s press release here … Continue reading →

Li Xiran of the Shanghai Daily reports on something rather bizar. Local of farmers of Fanji town, Linquan county in eastern China’s Shandong Province registered a trademark and established an association to protect their watermelons crops. However, the Xin’an Evening … Continue reading →

Following the example of a female blogger (name not mentioned in the ChinaNews.cn article), who sued a famous website for reproducing her article without her permission and asked for a compensation of 100,000 yuan (US$12,500), more bloggers want their copyright … Continue reading →

A senior Chinese IPR governor, who remained unnamed in the Xinhua article, did not expect that China would be under internationa pressure on its handling of intellectual property rights already. The title of the Xinhua article ‘China faces international pressure … Continue reading →

Frank Ahrens of the Washington Post wrote the article ‘US Joins Industry in Piracy War’, about the US government’s support to MPAA and RIAA in the battle against copyright infringements in China and Russia. MPAA’s CEO Dan Glickman said about … Continue reading →

China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) has officially joined the World Semiconductor Council (WSC). According to the organisations it is expected issues relating IP protection (layout designs of integrated circuits) will be resolved amicably. Read the Electronic News article here, head … Continue reading →

““These things originate in China and are made in factories that are subterranean cabins you access through a hole in the ground“, said Paul Gerrard, deputy head of UK Customs enforcement. Read Ciaran McGuigan’s article for Sunday Life here. Chinese … Continue reading →

Thanks to specilisation and economies of scale you find all kinds of clusters of IPR infringements in China; certain IPRs of certain product categories are prone to be infringed in certain provinces, regions or cities. Chinese Law professor Blog‘s Donald … Continue reading →

Richard Stallman, father of the free software movement, wrote that they might have more success enforcing copyright in China than Microsoft, Disney and Sony: “Disney wishes to stamp out semi-underground organizations that sell exact copies. With free software, regardless of … Continue reading →

Singapore’s TODAYOnline run an AFP story about whether Beijing markets still sell fake products, a day after some landlords of those markets had signed a memorandum of agreement with 23 luxury companies that they would not sell fake versions of … Continue reading →

Some counterfeit fashion items from China and India are very hard to detect. The quality can be as good as the genuine product. And some are priced as high as the real thing. Read D. Parvaz’ article for the Seatlle … Continue reading →

Richard Kuslan of Asia Business Intelligence wrote an excellent ‘Brief Introduction to Intellectual Property Rights in China’, which consists of the speech he gave at the World Trade Week. It starts with an interesting anectode, he experienced himself: An American … Continue reading →