Happy World Intellectual Property Day 2009

IP Dragon wishes you a happy World Intellectual Property Day 2009. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has chosen a very relevant theme for this year's World Intellectual Property Day: promoting green innovation. WIPO takes responsibility for the polution that is connected with technology protected by intellectual property rights: technology has created polution, but technology has also the potential to come up with solutions for this problem.

The 'greening' of China might be one of the most important challenges the world is facing. Read more about this on Erica Lee Schlaikjer's magnificent blog ResponsibleChina.com.

"China Will Reshape International Intellectual Property Policy"

I just read a great paper by Andrea Wechsler 'Intellectual Property Law in the P.R. China: A powerful Economic Tool for Innovation and Development', Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition & Tax Law Research Paper No. 09-02, November 12, 2008, download at SSRN here.

In 56 pages Ms Wechsler takes you on a journey to see the changing purposes in and rationales for international IP protection, the political economy of IP protection and the Chinese approach to IP policy in the light of international IP law developments.

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) is an integral part of the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s Agreement. Therefore this treaty (TRIPs) is a hybrid form which for most countries decreases the manoeuvring space in the field of IP protection policy. That China is an exception in this case Ms Wechsler writes on page 18: "The case of China thus demonstrates that – due to China’s sheer size but also due to its growing economic and political importance – China is to some extent defying the limitation of policy space in the field of IP protection through integration of this area into international trade policy."

Ms Wechsler shows how the Chinese government has changed its perception of intellectual property from a Fremdkörper that was transplanted in China from abroad, to uneasiness about the foreign pressure to reform its IP system in order for it to enter WTO, to China's autonomous realisation that IP protection is crucial to foster innovation and development, as evidenced by China's third amendment to its patent law (effective October 1, 2009). China is gradually opting for more country and industry specific intellectual property rights. Ms Wechsler writes: "it was argued that recent policy shifts in Chinese IP policy are to be considered as the first omens of the Chinese emergence as potent forces in reshaping the global intellectual property landscape according to their own political, economic, and social interests."

Read Ms Wechsler here.

Is There Anything Original To A Geely GE? And What About Huatai?

At the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show the Chinese Geely GE gives its acte de présence. Richard S. Chang wrote: "By all accounts the limo is a shameless (if not slightly shorter in length) knock-off of the Rolls-Royce Phantom." Read Chang's blog for the NYT here.

Surprisingly, there is one thing that is original, but for that you need to go inside: there is only one backseat, according to Jalopnik, see and read here.

UPDATE: Michael Harley writes for Autoblog about Chinese Automaker Huatai that is reportedly readying a knockoff version of Bentley Continental, read here. 

Last year Matt Hardigree wrote for Jalopnik about Huatai's "most suetastic logo ever," see here.

“A new dawn for the China health-care or… Grand theft IP?”

Guest article and picture by Mikołaj Rogowski

Back in January, Chinese government announced another one of its subsidies. This time around public health-care is the target and a sum of $128 billion is the weapon. It is no secret that it is another of Beijing’s measures of calming the nation during the year of the economic slow down, however anyone who has been in a public hospital in China will tell you that the system is indeed in need of the equipment and drugs that can be bought with such a substantial sum. Reasons aside, the dawn of new health care means that in the years to come Chinese officials will be on the medical shopping spree. Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/08/china-health-care-markets-equity-stimulus.html) has an interesting article on that topic. As Tina Wang points out, it is more than likely that most of the promised sum will go to the Chinese companies. However, in many fields of medicine there are simply no Chinese-made substitutes for the western made, high-end equipment and drugs. That leaves the government with no other choice than to contract with foreign producers. Seems that non-Chinese firms have much to gain, however it might turn out that there is even more to lose. Most if not all of the companies working in the aforementioned fields are IP-based. Without their patents and know-how their products would simply stand no chance of competing with their cheaper Chinese rivals.

The optimistic scenario: some of the items from the no doubt massive order list will not end up as targets of a disappearing act performances, only to later magically ‘reappear’ as certain solutions in ‘new’ Chinese made products.

The pessimistic picture? Remember how Russian military industry was always eager to sell their arms to the ever-expanding, ever-modernized People’s Liberation Army (People's Republic of China armed forces)? Seems that lately they have had a change of heart. After long negotiations concerning the sale of Sukhoi Su-33 Flanker-D carrier-borne fighters Russian party decided to scrap the deal because of the… Fear of the IP theft. Russians claim that China has already copied most of the equipment they have sold them. (More on this topic here: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20090313/120554173.html). A month after the fiasco of that deal China Association for Science and Technology publishes an article in which it stated that "In some areas, Chinese weapons have either achieved or are very close to achieving international advanced standards,". (The China Post: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/china/national-news/2009/04/13/204090/China-says.htm) The question that just begs to be asked, assuming the report is trustworthy, is how did the Chinese industry reach such levels of standards and if the theft of the IP was one of the main factors that led to this achievement, what would stop the Chinese medical industry from doing the same thing?

It certainly would not be the first time. Thanks to a friend of mine I had an opportunity to talk to a executive at Optopol ( http://optopol.com/en/), a renowned Polish firm specializing in manufacturing of diagnostics equipment in ophthalmology. They have sold a few units of their devices in China and they were met with a disturbing pattern. Most of the equipment was returned shortly, labeled as nonfunctioning. After a brief inspection it turned out that all of the returned machines bared signs of disassembly and whoever did the dismantling had a much harder time putting the machines back together – hence the returns of the “faulty” equipment. Now why would anyone want to take these machines apart, I wonder? What is even more disturbing is that this practice seems not be local - different copies of their products were sent to various locations in china, with the same results.

What do you think? Have any of the readers had any similar experience with products that were sold in China?

For more on the reform check: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123982492165322167.html

Text and picture Mikołaj Rogowski

Mikolaj Rogowski, law student at Jagiellonian University, author of several IP articles and Polish-English translations, specializes in Polish, European, Chinese and American IP law,
China assistant to MEP Jan Olbrycht.

Green Gold Rush: The Interview, The Movie

Laurent Gaberell told me that he made a video documentary called Green Gold Rush about bioprospecting (the exploration of biodiversity for commercially valuable genetic and bio-chemical resources) and indigenous peoples. See the video here.

The Interview
IP Dragon: Is traditional knowledge what the developed world wanted to give (as some would say "small change") to the developing world in exchange for their enforcement of the economically more important intellectual property rights of copyrights, trademarks and patents?
Laurent Gaberell: "The rhetoric of biopiracy has emerged as a political discourse and strategy to counter the piracy rhetoric that MNCs used to justify the enforcement of stronger and stronger intellectual property rights in the geopolitical South. To sum up, Third World countries were saying "you call us the thief for stealing your intellectual property when in reality you are the thiefs you steal our intellectual property", as Martin Khor well puts it in the movie. This biopiracy rhetoric has proven very effective in putting the issues on the top of the political agenda. Yet it has its dangers too. And one of them is the one you refer too. If we are speaking about two problems of piracy, then why not make a deal: "small changes" in the IP system such as disclosure of origin requirements againts enforcement of strong standards in the Third World to protect the IP assets of developed countries. It is a dangerous deal because I am really not sure it would benefit developing countries and moreover these are very diferent problems. On one side you have the patenting of innovations that originated in the geopolitical South while on the other side you have the use of IP protected innovations produced by MNCs. Third World countries are not appropriaiting the innovations of MNCs through IP, they are using it. But the North not only copies the innovations of the South but also appropriates it through IP. The problem is very different. I think Third World countries would be very ill advised to make such a deal. They have the legitimacy to ask for both the protection of their resources and knowledge, and the right to copy IP protected assets of the North in the name of their needs for development."

IP Dragon: Why wasn't a representative of the People's Republic of China included in the documentary?
Laurent Gaberell: "No representative of the People's Republic of China appears in the movie for the simple reason that there were no indigenous peoples delegates or representants of minorities of China present at the IGC. And the idea of the movie was to give an opportunity to indigenous peoples' delegates of various part of the world to share their experiences and perspectives. It was not the intention of the documentary to interview state representants or members of official delegations. So it is not a discriminitation against China, it is just that no representatives of any country was interviewed for this movie."

IP Dragon: Why is the movie relevant for China?
Laurent Gaberell: "For the importance of traditional medicinal knowledge there. China might not be part of the most megadiverse countries of the world, but it has accumulated an impressive quantitiy of knowledge about the medicinal properties of its biological resources, and that knowledge is of very strategic and economic importance in the context of the biotech revolution. So the question that the movie asks for Bolivia is also relevant for China: how not only to protect our knowledge and innovations of being appropriated but also how to use it and develop it in a way that is really beneficial to the people and to the country."

IP Dragon: Can you tell anything China-related in relation to this movie?
Laurent Gaberell: "I have read about the strategy that China is currently experimenting to protect its TK, namely the patenting of this knowledge, especially its traditional medicinal knowledge and formulations. The advantage of this strategy is that the patents can then be enforced through WIPO in countries like the US or in Europe, something a national sui generis system is currently not able to do. What is not clear to me however is who owns the patent. The State? Chinese companies? Individuals? Traditional comunities?"

Consumers International Says UK Has Worse Copyright Regime Than China... Nonsense Says Sharkey

Thank goodness it is Friday. Consumers International did a survey on the intellectual property laws and enforcement practices of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, the UK and the US, see here. 

According to BBC News Consumers International decided that "UK law was least effective in balancing the interests of rights holders against those of consumers." Read BBC News "UK 'has the worst copyright laws'", here. 

Feargal Sharkey, yes the great singer of 'A good heart' and CEO of UK Music strongly opposes this view: "In particular, claims that Chinese and Indian consumers (and media) have greater freedoms to access copyrighted works than UK citizens are as ludicrous as they are offensive."

Read more on MusicWeek, here.

The simple fact that China blocked the YouTube video of 'A Good Heart' below suggests Sharkey is right. This songs' lyrics are appropriate and include:

"I hear a lot of stories
I suppose they could be true
All about intellectual property and what it can do to you
Highest risk of striking out
The risk of getting hurt
And still, I have so much to learn"

Ok, ok, I changed a word or two; listen to the original lyrics below and enjoy your weekend. 

Music Copyright Fees for Television and Radio Announced

Picture:
TV History

JLM Pacific Epoch (China Business Headlines & Analysis from JL McGregor & Company) translated a report by West China City Daily quoting Chinese composer Xu Peidong that China's National Publishing Administration plans to set up copyright fees of 2.4 Renminbi per minute for music used on television and 0,3 Renminbi per minute for Radio. Read here.

Read more about the General Administration of Publication under the Central People's Government on the site of ChinaCulture.org, here.

Also the US Library of Congress gives some information about the history of the National Publishing Administration: "In 1982 the China National Publishing Administration, the umbrella organization of Chinese publishers, was placed under the Ministry of Culture, but actual management of the industry was directed through four systems of administration: direct state administration; administration by committees or organizations of the State Council or the party Central Committee; armed forced administration; and administration by provinces, autonomous regions, or special municipalities."
Read more here.

IP Dragon's Worldwide Review of Seizures and Measures Against Counterfeit and Pirated Goods Originating from China

FThis article will be a work in progress, because everytime I will come across news about a country that seized counterfeit or pirated goods originating from China I will add the link, so that a worldwide overview will emerge. If you find articles about activities against infringed goods from China in exotic places (or if such a countery has any link with infringement originating from China), feel free to send me the links. Thanks.

Afghanistan – Islamic Republic of Afghanistan:

Paterson, Anna, Asif Karimi, Understanding Markets in Afghanistan: A study of the market for pharmaceuticals, April/May 2005

Albania – Republic of Albania

Algeria – People's Democratic Republic of Algeria

'Ford in Algeria' ("By estimate, more than 50% of realized auto parts are the counterfeit production from China and in a less degree - from the Eastern Europe.")

Andorra – Principality of Andorra


Angola – Republic of Angola



Antigua and Barbuda – Antigua and Barbuda



Argentina – Argentine Republic



Armenia – Republic of Armenia



Australia – Commonwealth of Australia

Injury risk in counterfeit goods, Cowry Community News, May 2, 2011.

Austria – Republic of Austria

Tanja Miscevic, Produktpirateriebericht: Markenfälschungen nehmen weiter zu Apotheker warnen vor falschen Medikamenten im Internethandel, APA-OTS, April 1, 2011.


Azerbaijan – Republic of Azerbaijan



The Bahamas – Commonwealth of The Bahamas



Bahrain – Kingdom of Bahrain



Bangladesh – People's Republic of Bangladesh



Barbados



Belarus – Republic of Belarus


Belgium – Kingdom of Belgium




Belize



Benin – Republic of Benin


Bhutan – Kingdom of Bhutan



Bolivia – Republic of Bolivia



Bosnia and Herzegovina – Bosnia and Herzegovina



Botswana – Republic of Botswana

Phillips, Jeremy, 'Poison toothpaste alert in Botswana', Afro-IP, January 25, 2008.

Brazil – Federative Republic of Brazil



Brunei – Negara Brunei Darussalam



Bulgaria – Republic of Bulgaria

Counterfeit goods come mostly from China, Turkey, Hong Kong and Dubai, Focus News Agency, March 20, 2011.

Burkina Faso – Burkina Faso



Burma – Union of Myanmar



Burundi – Republic of Burundi



Cambodia – Kingdom of Cambodia



Cameroon – Republic of Cameroon

Gemnda Buinda, Diplomacy: Chinese Minister Visits Cameroon, RTV, March 28, 2011.

Canada - Canada

'Public cautioned about China', CBC News, December 7, 2010.


Cape Verde - Republic of Cape Verde

Central African Republic


Chad – Republic of Chad

Chile – Republic of Chile



China – People's Republic of China: it can be argued that the People's Republic of China is the greatest victim of the infringements originating in China.

Wang Guanqun, China seizes counterfeit commodities worth 1.55 bln yuan in 2008, Xinhua, March 14, 2009

Colombia – Republic of Colombia


Comoros – Union of the Comoros


Congo – Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa)



Congo – Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville)



Costa Rica – Republic of Costa Rica



Côte d'Ivoire – Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)



Croatia – Republic of Croatia



Cuba – Republic of Cuba



Cyprus – Republic of Cyprus



Czech Republic



Denmark - Kingdom of Denmark

Djibouti – Republic of Djibouti


Dominica – Commonwealth of Dominica



Dominican Republic



East Timor – Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste


Ecuador – Republic of Ecuador



Egypt – Arab Republic of Egypt

Dalia Ziada, China's fake hymen: blessing and curse, October 9, 2009.

FredOrange, Mug Shot - China - The Art of Faking a Fake, November 7, 2009.

El Salvador – Republic of El Salvador



Equatorial Guinea – Republic of Equatorial Guinea



Eritrea – State of Eritrea



Estonia – Republic of Estonia



Ethiopia – Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia



Fiji – Republic of the Fiji Islands



Finland – Republic of Finland



France – French Republic



Gabon – Gabonese Republic



The Gambia – Republic of The Gambia



Georgia



Germany – Federal Republic of Germany


Ghana – Republic of Ghana



Greece – Hellenic Republic



Grenada



Guatemala – Republic of Guatemala


Guinea – Republic of Guinea



Guinea-Bissau – Republic of Guinea-Bissau



Guyana – Co-operative Republic of Guyana



Haiti – Republic of Haiti



Honduras – Republic of Honduras



Hong Kong – special administrative region of Hong Kong


Hungary – Republic of Hungary



Iceland – Republic of Iceland



India – Republic of India



Indonesia – Republic of Indonesia



Iran – Islamic Republic of Iran



Iraq – Republic of Iraq



Ireland



Israel - State of Israel

Italy - Italian Republic

AFP via Plush, 'Italian police bust Chinese-Senegalese counterfeiting ring', November 7, 2009.

IANS/AKI via India Talkies, '400,000 counterfeit toys seized in Italy', November 11, 2010.


Jamaica


Japan - State of Japan

Mainichi Daily News, 'Japan, China agree to set up working group to address intellectual property violations', June 4, 2009.

Jordan - Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Kazakhstan - Republic of Kazakhstan


Kenya - Republic of Kenya

Phillips, Jeremy, 'China blames Kenya for buying its fakes', Afro-IP, April 30, 2008.

Wambui, Sarah, 'US worried by China exports to Kenya', December 10, 2010.

Kiribati - Republic of Kiribati

Korea, North - Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)


Korea, South - Republic of Korea (South Korea)


Kosovo - Republic of Kosovo

Kuwait - State of Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyz Republic


Laos - Lao People's Democratic Republic

Latvia - Republic of Latvia


Lebanon - Republic of Lebanon

Lesotho - Kingdom of Lesotho

Liberia - Republic of Liberia

Libya -Socialist People's Libyan Arab Great Jamahiriya

Liechtenstein - Principality of Liechtenstein

Lithuania - Republic of Lithuania

Luxembourg - Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

Macao special administrative region of Macao

Macedonia - (Former Yugoslav) Republic of Macedonia

Macedonian Customs Seize Counterfeit Sunglasses, Footwear, Apparel, Petosevic, June 23, 2010.

Madagascar - Republic of Madagascar

The famous cigarette brand "good look" victim of counterfeit, MadOnline, August 3, 2010.

Malawi - Republic of Malawi

Malaysia

Kent Ong, Fake Seaweed from China in Malaysian Market, Seaweed Nutrition Data and Information Malaysia, September 16, 2009.

Maldives - Republic of Maldives

Mali - Republic of Mali

Malta - Republic of Malta

Marshall Islands - Republic of the Marshall Islands

Mauritania - Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Mauritius - Republic of Mauritius

Mexico - United Mexican States

Micronesia - Federated States of Micronesia

Moldova - Republic of Moldova

Monaco - Principality of Monaco

Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco - Kingdom of Morocco

Mozambique - Republic of Mozambique

Namibia - Republic of Namibia

Kaeven ka Aipinge, Pohamba's China Stance Disappoints, Namibia Economist


Kaseven ka Aipinge

Nauru - Republic of Nauru

Nepal - Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

The Netherlands - Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Netherlands seize fake brand clothing from China, AFP, November 4, 2005.

New Zealand
Global fake sex pills racket busted in New Zealand, IANS, January 28, 2011.

Minerales Inventados (fake minerals), Hettie's (undated).

Nicaragua - Republic of Nicaragua

Niger - Republic of Niger

Nigeria - Federal Republic of Nigeria

Olivier, Darren, 'Nigeria textile industry under threat from China fakes', Afro-IP, October 27, 2008.

Okonji, Emma, 'Curbing menace of counterfeit ICT devices', Daily Independent, September 27, 2010.

Norway - Kingdom of Norway

Oman - Sultanate of Oman

Pakistan - Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Palau - Republic of Palau

Panama - Republic of Panama

Papua New Guinea - Independent State of Papua New Geuinea

Paraguay - Republic of Paraguay

Peru - Republic of Peru

Philippines - Republic of the Philippines

Poland - Republic of Poland

Portugal - Portuguese Republic

Qatar - State of Qatar

Romania
Russia - Russian Federation

Friedmann, Danny, 'Cherkizovsky Market Closed Because of Counterfeit and Pirated Good From China', July 31, 2009.

Mirovalev, Mansur, In Russian village, a storied Communist-era art form falls victim to modern times, AM 1150.

Rwanda - Republic of Rwanda

Saint Kitts and Nevis - Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa - Independent State of Samoa

San Marino - Republic of San Marino

São Tomé and Príncipe - Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe

Saudi Arabia - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Senegal - Republic of Senegal

Serbia - Republic of Serbia

Seychelles - Republic of Seychelles

Sierra Leone - Republic of Sierra Leone

Singapore - Republic of Singapore

Raymond Lau, Thousands of pirated Microsoft software confiscated in a police raid, Techgoondu, April 9, 2011.

Slovakia - Slovak Republic

Slovenia - Republic of Slovenia

Solomon Islands

Somalia - Federal Republic of Somalia

South Africa - Republic of South Africa

Spain - Kingdom of Spain

BNO News, 'Spains biggest ever counterfeit cigarette network dismantled', November 12, 2010.

Sri Lanka - Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Sudan - Republic of the Sudan

Suriname - Republic of Suriname

Swaziland - Kingdom of Swaziland

Sweden - Kingdom of Sweden

Switzerland - Swiss Confederation

Syria - Syrian Arab Republic

Taiwan - Republic of China

Tajikistan - Republic of Tajikistan

Tanzania - United Republic of Tanzania

Friedmann, Danny, Olympic Torch Tanzania Brings Protests Against ...Chinese Counterfeit Products, IP Dragon, April 14, 2008

Phillips, Jeremy, 'China condemns its own export of fakes to Tanzania', Afro-IP, August 14, 2008.

Thailand - Kingdom of Thailand
Friedmann, Danny, IP Dragon, China Bad News for Thailand's Counterfeit Manufacturers, November 28, 2007

Pataya People newspaper Thailand, Goods confiscated from Tukcom

Togo - Togolese Republic

Tonga - Kingdom of Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago - Republic of Trinidad an Tobago

Tunisia - Tunisian Republic

Turkey - Republic of Turkey

Turkmenistan


Tuvalu


Uganda - Republic of Uganda

Phillips, Jeremy, 'Ugandan authorities squeeze imported toothpaste tubes', Afro-IP, June 3, 2009.

Samuel Sanya and David Sempijja, Absence of Counterfeit Laws Hurts Business, New Vision, March 16, 2011.

Francis Kagolo, China cracks down on fake products, New Vision, April 10, 2011.

Ukraine


United Arab Emirates - United Arab Emirates

Kawach, Nadim, 'Abu Dhabi moves against fake Chinese mobile phones', Emirates Business 24/7, May 6, 2009

United Kingdom - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Ben Hirschler, British man jailed after record fake medicine bust, Reuters.
Bradford man cleared of fake medicine scam, Wiltshire Times, April 11, 2011. 

United States of America

Friedmann, Danny, Also So Much To Do in IP in the USA! Happy World IP Day to All!, IP Dragon, April 26, 2010

Uruguay - Eastern Republic of Uruguay

Uzbekistan - Republic of Uzbekistan

Vanuatu - Republic of Vanuatu

Vatican City - State of the Vatican City

Venezuela - Bolivarian Republic of Venezuala

Vietnam - Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Yemen - Republic of Yemen

Zambia - Republic of Zambia

Zimbabwe - Republic of Zimbabwe

'Comment: Zim should be wary of imported counterfeit products', News Day, November 14, 2010.