Author Archives: Dr. Danny Friedmann

Luan Shanglin wrote for Xinhua Sino-German Memorandum on Strengthening the IPR Protection Cooperation Inked. Luan wrote: “China and Germany have agreed upon a Memorandum on Strengthening the Cooperation of Intellectual Property Rights. Jiang Zengwei, vice minister of commerce and Hartmut … Continue reading →

Chinese Tech News wrote:“A Hangzhou court has accepted and heard a lawsuit filed by Guangdong Zhongkai Culture Development Company against Chinese search service provider Zhongsou.com.Zhongkai, which claims to be the sole owner of the online version of the film “The … Continue reading →

Who’s Who Legal recognised Edward Lehman, of Lehman, Lee & Xu, Beijing, as a top trademark lawyer in China. Congratulations. Also recognised is Spring YC Chang of Chang Tsi & Partners, Beijing. Xu Yiping of the Shanghai Patent & Trademark … Continue reading →

Super Girl’s producer is accused of IPR infringement, writes the China Daily using Xinhua as a source. Besides, having doubts about the originality of the Super Girls format (very similar to American Idol), read more here, the highly successful voice … Continue reading →

Yesterday and the day before the Asia Technology Roundtable Exhibition, organised by magazine Red Herring was held in Beijing, see here. Clendenin covered the story for EETimes. Although Microsoft has signed deals worth more than 1.5 million US dollar, IDC … Continue reading →

The Xinhua article Only 10% of Chinese films attract audiences by Yan Zhonghua is analysing the reasons for failure of films in China to reach an audience. inadequate supply of cinemas and screens are blamed; many Chinese filmmakers lack money … Continue reading →

Today is World Intellectual Property Day, an initiative of WIPO and an excuse for celebration.What are the events China has organised to celebrate this day? At the list of states that organised events in observance of World Intellectual Property Day, … Continue reading →

Dan Harris of China Law Blog, has a corporate site too, see here. The design of the site seems to have been copied by Blawg of China, powered by Lehman, Lee & Xu, of all firms, see here. You wouldn’t … Continue reading →

Lonnie B. Hodge of OneManBandWidth, an American professor in China (Guangzhou), is optimistic about Warner Bros’ latest strategy against piracy, namely reducing the movies to 1.5 US dollar per piece. Even though the price of the legal movies is still … Continue reading →

In the People’s Daily Online you can read: “China has bought more than 4,000 copyrights from the United States in recent years while the US has imported only 16 from China.” Probably only books are included in these numbers, while … Continue reading →

Ben Blanchard wrote an Reuters’ article called US not ruled out WTO complaint over China piracy. Chris Israel, US Coordinator International Intellectual Property Enforcement was quoted saying that the Chinese leadership had given him some cause for optimism but:“We remain … Continue reading →

“A court case, which is scheduled on Thursday, will address for the first time in China the issue of blog copyright. Qin Tao, a Shanghai-based blogger, sued Sohu one of China’s portal websites, for its unauthorized reprint of her logs. … Continue reading →

Guy Dixon, aided by Jan Wong, wrote an article called ‘The diary of a young girl, a film and a festival fight’ for the Globe & Mail. It’s about Pierre Haski, a Frenchman, who helped edit a book called The … Continue reading →

Since the Silk Market Appeal Case we know that the landlord is liable in case he is warned that his tenants infringe trademarks and he doesn’t do anything about it. But is a travel agency responsible for tourists that wear … Continue reading →

“The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) announced in Beijing on Sunday that China has ascended to fourth position in the world in applications for protecting new agricultural plant varieties.” China launched the Regulations on protecting new plant varieties (pdf) in … Continue reading →

Danwei, an interesting site about Chinese media, advertising and urban life, has every now and then posts about intellectual property law in China. Now it has an article about the alleged plagiarism of Beijing band Shuimu Nianhua that made a … Continue reading →

The Economist reviewed ‘China Shakes the World: The Rise of a Hungry Nation,’ by James Kynge on the ocassion of Chinese president Hu in America. Here is a fragment:“At Yiwu (city in Zhejiang province, IP Dragon), the world’s largest whole-sale … Continue reading →

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) celebrated World Book and Copyright Day. See here. The site has a collection of the world’s national copyright laws, including China’s, see here. In China, however only the book reading aspect of … Continue reading →

Teng Fei, senior researcher at the China International Tech & Economy Institute, Development Research Center for the State Council, China, writes that the Sino-US IPR dispute reflects different attitutes toward international conventions (in short: China is doing it’s best, US … Continue reading →

Yesterday, Louis Vuitton sued Shanghai Lianjia Supermarket Co, Carrefour’s joint venture partner in Shanghai, because it sold counterfeit Louis Vuitton bags for 6 US dollar each. Read more here. Carrefour has admitted it sold the counterfeit bags, but unintentially. Louis … Continue reading →

China trained 13 Asian countries, including Vietnam, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Kazakstan about preliminary examinations of patents, substantive examination procedures, patent documentation, the patent search system, the application and examination mechanism of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and innovation and patents. The 5 … Continue reading →

Book Review China CEOD. Murali of the Hindu Business Line reviewed ‘CHINA CEO: Voices of Experience From 20 International Business Leaders’ by Juan Antonio Fernandez and Laurie Underwood. The book is based on interviews with 20 executives heading up the … Continue reading →

In the Silk Market Appeal Case the fundamental question to be ruled upon was:Is the landlord liable in case he is warned that his tenants infringe trademarks, or is the state responsible for preventing further trademark infringement? Read more about … Continue reading →

If you are going to attend the Conference on Protecting Your Intellectual Property Rights in China and the Global Marketplace, set for Chicago, Illinois May 4-5, please let IP Dragon know the high lights. Read more about the conference here.

Microsoft and Lenovo decided to forge a strategic co-operation. After Lenovo had already announced it will pre-install legal Microsoft operating software on its computer, read here, it will now buy for US $ 1.2 billion in Microsoft licenses for the … Continue reading →

“China is the world’s second-largest buyer of personal computers, but only the 25th-largest buyer of software,” according to the MercuryNews. Yesterday Chinese premier Hu Jintao visited Bill Gates in Seatlle and asked him to have confidence in the measures the … Continue reading →

“Foreign TV Footage Needs to be Free” Richard Kuslan of Asia Business Intelligence had a very interesting post about a State Administration for Radio, Film and Television regulation, that allows Chinese TV stations using exclusively pictures of foreign TV stations … Continue reading →

Research in Motion (RIM) settled it’s patent dispute with NTP by agreeing to pay US$ 612.5 million, read more here. So RIM needs to earn some money and it was just about to embark on the Chinese market, only to … Continue reading →

China is expected to ratify WIPO’s internet treaties in the second half of this year. These treaties are: WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT); WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT). These treaties update (the traditional right of reproduction continues to apply in … Continue reading →

Yesterday the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) talks seems to have been pretty fruitful and some concrete measures were announced: China will open offices in 50 cities to handle piracy complaints and to raise awareness about intellectual … Continue reading →

Number 272 of Rouse & Co. International’s China IP Express newsletter is all about sport: “With the coming Beijing Olympics in 2008 and all the other international events in China, combined with the fact that David Beckham is the most … Continue reading →

Today, the Chinese iron lady Vice Premier Wu Yi and US Trade Representative Rob Portman and US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez discuss US-China trade and IPR, seeking to ease tensions before President Hu Jintao’s visit to the US next week … Continue reading →

You could argue the Silk Market Ruling of December 19th, by the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People’s Court ruling is one of the most important jurisprudence. It could be a precedent of the landlord’s liability in case of trade mark … Continue reading →

Due to technical problems there were no blogs Friday.So instead of saying OHIMA (not to be confused with OHIM) I am looking forward to this week which has a lot to offer in respect to IP in China. Think about … Continue reading →

In the Jamaica Observer Charmain N. Clarke wrote about The Coffee Mill’s opening of the first Jamaican wholly owned foreign enterprise in China, read here. The Jamaican ambassador to China, Wayne McCook, left behind the Jamaican patented relaxedness and said: … Continue reading →

Guiseppe de Filippo, associate principal with McKinsey’s Shanghai office, and Chris Ip principal in the Hong Kong office, wrote for CIOthe article ‘Leaks in the Great Wall’ Now that India is becoming more expensive, software developers turn ot China. What … Continue reading →

“To steal a book is an elegant offense”Chinese proverb. William P. Alford, professor of law and director of East Asian Legal Studies Program, Harvard Univerity, used it in the title of his book on IP in China: “To steal a … Continue reading →

Cars, Shoelaces and the Nibelung’s Ring In the archive of the Rouse & Co. International China IP Express newsletter you can find this amazing post: “Audi Face Action Over Copyright InfringementVolkswagen Germany, Volkswagen China, Shanghai LINSHI Advertising Co., Ltd. and … Continue reading →

WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) made Intellectual property forever inseparable from international trade. 29th March, Raphael Minder and James Mackintosh wrote an interesting article about these aspects in the automotive industry for Financial Times. It … Continue reading →

C.Peter Theut is a shareholder practicing in Butzel Long’s Detroit office, that focuses on the automotive industry. Theut is chairman of the firm’s Global Trade and Transactions Practice and heads the Butzel Long China Initiative. Butzel Long has joined forces … Continue reading →

Law professor, author of ‘Who Owns Culture’ and ‘fashion victim’, Susan Scafidi of Counterfeit Chic, has another great post: This time about “The Jack Spade “Chinatown Collection,” which debuted in February during New York Fashion Week, takes cheap plastic “made … Continue reading →

Mark Kitto, who founded three English language magazines called That’s Shanghai, That’s Beijing and That’s Guangzhou, “to get the most out of life” in those respective cities, wrote about building up his “mini media empire” (as FT coined it), power … Continue reading →

Vice premier Wu Yi, China’s iron lady, will talk IP with US commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez and US trade representative Rob Portman on April 11 meeting. This must set the stage for talks when US president George W. Bush hosts … Continue reading →

Luke Minford, country manager of Rouse & Co. International in Beijing, gave a presentation about the options available other than litigation. Minford started with saying that the cause of the counterfeit problem in China is as much about corporate failure … Continue reading →

Derek Jiang of Xinhua Finance wrote for Forbes about Honda that has announced it will file a lawsuit against the State Intellectual Property Office. SIPO recently ruled that the exterior design patent application for Honda’s new version of the CR-V … Continue reading →

BusinessWeek published a story of Maria Bissinger, Yang Wang and Tatiana Kordyukova , analysts for Standard and Poor’s about emerging markets, such as China, beckoning the automotive industry. Here are the relevant IPR passages: “A further risk factor associated with … Continue reading →

The Guardian run an Associated Press article that run a South China Morning Post article about an unemployed single father of four for allegedly illegally sharing music on the internet. Seven record firms, including Universal Music and Warner Music Hong … Continue reading →

Silk Alley Shopkeepers Donate to Young Students, PR Stunt? Silk Alley Shopkeepers, infamous for selling counterfeit products, have donated RMB 600.000 to the Beijing Youth Development Fund. Are they sincerely concerned about the education of 1000 rural girls or is … Continue reading →

Ben Goodger, partner of Willoughby & Partner laid out an IP asset management system which included doing your homework (legal and factual due diligence), using good contracts, preventative measures, early warning of problems and swift & effective enforcement, to get … Continue reading →