Corrupting Our Youth One Sing Contest At A Time, and Time-Travelling Still Possible

Super girl, o boy o boy!

In the year 399 BC, Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking a cup of Hemlock, because he corrupted the youth. In hind sight we hold his contribution to educate the population in high esteem. How will our progeny judge a TV programme such as Super Girl? At least now the creators of this programme are affected by a similar criticism that once hit Socrates: "vulgar, manipulative, poison for our youth". Read more here.

"I don't want to be vulgar ...

"Market access ban is the modern hemlock cup"
The Death of Socrates 
Jacques-Louis David 1787

We can debate about whether the ever o so impressionable youth can spend their time wiser (hurray for programmes about "practical information about house work"). But especially in a stressful hyper competitive society as China's, people also grave for some entertainment after a day chock-full of study or work. I think the more choice the better. Hopefully then the audiences gravitate toward higher quality. State Administration for Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) might not be in the best position to be a media critique. And it might be better if the government sticks to facilitating the preconditions for culture to blossom, which includes providing a varied TV programmes schedule with uplifting but also entertaining programmes. Therefore, and based on China's WTO commitments, China should give market access to foreign TV and film providers. Limiting them market access does not only harm foreign media providers (it does also indirectly, because it creates a huge demand for pirated works). It also harms Chinese audiences that miss out on good programmes and Chinese media providers that are not stimulated to meet high international standards.

... but I support their freedom of being vulgar."

I am quoting my colleague Tan Fugui, who inspired by Voltaire said this to me after reading this article. Tan Fugui adds: "a precondition, people have freedom of being vulgar as long as they dont penetrate other peoples right territory, for example, not involving outsider's privacy etc."

Must be harsh for American Idols producers to see that even their knock-off version is kept off the tube.
Read my 2005! blog post about the American Idols knock-off with Chinese characteristics, here.
Read my 2006 blog post about copyright allegations against Super Girl's producer here.

Time-travelling to Alternate Reality

Do you remember that SARFT forbid time-travelling, read here. Well, last weekend I went to the movies in CoCo Park, Shenzhen. And it seems that time-travelling is still possible ..., at least in the movie Source Code.

Spoiler alert
Via "Source Code" Captain Colter Stevens is in the body of Sean Fentress during the last 8 minutes of his life, just before a train blew up. With Source Code and some alleged quantum mechanics, that creates an alternate reality he is able to visit this last 8 minutes many times (using the memory of someone who is technically dead) in order to find who is behind the terrorist attack, so that this information can prevent future attacks. Stevens find a way to alter at least one parallel universe and is able to save the people on the train and can even contact the people of the control centre at Source Code via SMS.
End spoiler alert


The prohibition of time-travelling is to prevent to mislead or confuse uneducated people. Or is it because the future can be changed by going back in time? Or that future projections of many a science-fiction work (such as George Orwell's Nineteen Eigthy-Four which he wrote in 1949) is a kind of critique of contemporary society? But this could happen in a parallel society such as Avatar (that was blocked in 2-D, not 3-D, read here). But why stop there: one can start to interpret the Smurfs (very popular in China) as social criticism. Maybe Source Code slipped through the censor because it is too far fetched even for the credulous and gullible.

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Media Piracy in Emerging Economy Report: Omnipresent China Conspicuously Absent

Media Piracy in Emerging Economies, is a very interesting report edited by Joe Karaganis, program director of Social Science Research Council. Digital copying of music, film and software works that fall outside the boundaries of copyright are not only a dilemma in developed countries but also in emergent markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, which are covered in country cases. The report also deals with Mexico and Bolivia.

Conspicuously absent is a country case on China. However, the reader can observe this omnipresent protaganist, during the whole 400 pages, a bit like the great white whale in the novel Moby Dick.
The report contends refreshingly that the question is not whether stronger enforcement can preserve existing market structures, but whether business models can emerge that can serve the low end of the media market. Or in the words of Karaganis: the choice is between high piracy/low price and not high piracy/high price.
The report seems to take the copyright law of the respective jurisdictions as a given.

The report has many interesting critical notes, including about the alleged link between piracy and organized crime/terrorism. It persuasively makes the case that in the time that film and music were consumed via CD and DVD and optical disk production was only lucrative on a industrial scale, it might have had some relevance. But first cottage production of optical disks became possible and now even they are in competition with down loading consumers.

Media Piracy in Emerging Economies, funded by the Canadian International Development Research Center and the Ford Foundation, is available via pdf under a Consumer's Dilemma license, see here.

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Copyright Piracy of Communist Books is Not Patriotic

Photo Danny Friedmann
"A book is like a garden that you can put into your pocket"

IP Dragon Weekend Edition

As the Chinese proverb goes "a book is like a garden that you can put in your pocket." However, you cannot multiply books just as plants (well not in the case of genetically modified plants), even though the government might find the books commendable.

The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) said that the authorities have seized 27 suspects so far for pirating a book on the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Mu Xuequan writes for Xinhua. Eight publishers and binderies were closed in Sanhe City, in Hebei.
Mu writes: "Five officials also received punishments for dereliction of duty".

The book that was counterfeited was the second book in the series about the crucial period 1949-1978 period. From the founding of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong until the economic reforms and opening up to the world policy of Deng Xiaoping.

The GAPP tries now to fight copyright piracy by launching the Green Bookmark campaign "aimed to persuade the public to buy authorized publications." But how can one avoid that the copyright pirates copy the Green Bookmark too?

Read the Xinhua article here.

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How bright is Bright Sword?

Is the Force with mass campaigns?

Are mass campaigns of intellectual property enforcement mere temporary patchwork, leaving untouched the underlaying problems? Most mass campaigns are still announced with starting date and expiration date. The only thing trademark counterfeiters and copyright pirates need to do is book a holiday and start after the campaign is over, reinvigorated. Now I exaggerate a bit. But mass campaigns are in my view suboptimal and overrated, despite all the impressive statistics, and to be consumed by foreign media tired about reporting on IPR infringement cases in China.

The newest campaign is named Bright Sword. The question is whether it is a bit less typical in that it will continue for quite a long time. It started November 2010 and will continue until the end of 2011. The police seized 14,185 suspects in five months, allegedly involved in over 8,000 cases of IPR infringements, according to the Public Security Ministry.

Zhang Yan and Cai Yin wrote for the China Daily that Bright Swords focuses on eight fields including fake international brands, fake food and drugs, pirated film and television works as well as organised crime. Zhang and Cai wrote in the same article that the police is targeting four activities: agriculture, fake drugs, counterfeit wine and food, as well as fake brands. If the journalists are so unclear about which categories are targeted IPR infringers have a more difficult job finding out if they need to temporarily stop their activities.

Deputy director of the ministry's economic crime investigation department, Gao Feng was quoted saying that of 7,000 production and sales outlets were shut down and that the ministry will focus on the supervision of 340 major cases to ensure thorough investigation and punishment of violators. This information is a bit cryptical: does it mean that out of 8,000 cases just 340 cases are prosecuted?

Read the China Daily article here.

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Writers versus Baidu: Does Baidu "Know" What It Is Doing?

When people outside the field of intellectual property rights strike a conversation with you about something related to IP you know it has caught the public imagination. 50 Chinese writers united in the 'Publishing World Anti-Baidu Infringement Coalition' have written an open letter on March 15 in which Baidu was accused of making available via its Wenku site copyrighted works without their prior approval.

百度文库

What is Baidu Wenku?
It's a document sharing platform launched November 2009 under the name Baidu 百度 Zhidao 知道 which means Baidu “knowledge” or Baidu "knows". In December 2009 the name was changed into Baidu Wenku 文库 literally collection of documents. Internet users are given an incentive to upload documents, because they are getting point for it. With these points they can “buy” premium documents. According to Steven Chow of China Online Marketing Baidu Wenku has over 200 million documents. Read here.

Baidu said that it already had measures in place: A website were copyright holders can complain http:/tousu.baidu.com/wenku. Baidu says that it deletes infringing content within 48 hours. According to Baidu it has received and deleted tens of thousands of infringing items uploaded by internet users. The question is, according to China's laws and regulations, when is an online service provider such as Baidu contributorily liable? For this one needs to peruse the Regulation on Protection to Network Dissemination of Information, which was implemented in July 2006 and is still very relevant.

Article 15: “The network service provider, after receiving notification from the owner, shall
immediately delete or disconnect the link to the work, performance, or audio-visual recording suspected of infringing on an other’s right, and meanwhile shall transfer the notification to the service object of the work, performance, or audio-visual recording; if the network address of the service object is not clear and the notification cannot be transferred, the network service provider shall publicize the content of the notification through the information network.”

Article 22: “Under the following circumstances, a network service provider that provides information
storage space to a service object or provides works, performances, or audio-visual recordings to the
public through the information network, shall not be liable for compensation:
1. Having clearly mentioned that the information storage space is provided to the service object, and also having publicized the name, contact information, and web address of the network service provider;
2. Having not altered the work, performance, or audio-visual recording provided to the service object;
3. Having not known and having no justified reason to know that the works, performances, or audio-visual recordings provided by the service object have infringed upon an other’s right;
4. Having not directly obtained economic benefits from the service object’s provision of the work, performance, or audio-visual recording;
5. After receiving the notification from the owner, having deleted the work, performance, or audiovisual
regarded as infringing on the right of the owner according to the provisions of this regulation.”

One could argue that Baidu “altered the work” by categorising it, and should have known that internet users upload pirated works. It even gives an incentive for internet users to upload, regardless of whether the work is pirated or not. Wang Ziqiang/Zhicheng, director of the copyright management department of the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) was quoted by Mu Xuequan of Xinhua saying that copyright law enforcement organs will determine whether Baidu has violated relevant laws and regulations after their investigation. Read here.

The People's Daily reports that Baidu has deleted on March 30th, the pirated works from its Wenku site.
April 11, Baidu will unveil a "copyright DNA identification" technology that should prevent internet users to upload pirated works.

“Industry insiders said that as China's largest search engine, Baidu's move of taking down all pirated literary works indicates that free stuff on the Chinese Internet may be gradually disappearing.”
Quite a sweeping statement. Read here.

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Why The Chinese Educational System Is Not More Conducive To Creativity: Some Hypotheses

China is the country with the most creative people in the world. That is a truism in a country with 1.3 billion people. In the past China showed the world the way to creativity: compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing, all are Chinese inventions. So why are copyright piracy, counterfeit trademarks and patent infringements that origin from China so rampant?

I have written about some of the extra-judicial factors before, see here (chapter 8), but I have overlooked one of the fundamental flaws that China has to fix: its educational system.

I assume that for an educational system that fosters creativity the following factors are of crucial importance:

- Idle/play time;

- Combining factors that have not been combined before;

- Atmosphere where experimenting (or put it another way: critical thinking) is possible.

Based on these assumptions are my hypotheses:

- Most students work too hard and too long and learn too much by rote (learning by repetition) to develop their creativity;

- Many students limit themselves by focusing exclusively on what is relevant, but often it is hard to know ex ante what the ingredients for success are going to be, and following the downtrodden path is not helpful for making new combinations or to "think outside the box" or to be open to serendipity;

- Most schools do not give enough room for experimentation;

- Although there are many ways to Beijing, parents, teachers and society at large expects students to excel and go to the Chinese Ivy League schools and universities. This puts students under immense pressure.

Of course these Hypotheses need to be tested.

I am interested in your views. Let me know. ipdragon at gmail dot com.

Read also 'How To Create The New Generation of Copyists (The Shortcut)'

UPDATE:

IP Dragon thinks this educational problem is shared by countries such as Singapore, Korea and Japan. Since these countries are no longer known for their rampant infringements of intellectual property rights the explanation becomes more convincing that China's low level of intellectual property enforcement is caused by the developmental phase it is.

UPDATE 2:

Carven, a student of St Joseph's College in Hong Kong, and member of the project affairs department of the 43rd Joint School Science Exhibition Preparation Committee wrote in the Young Post of the South China Morning Post of November 18, the article 'Lack of Creativity Limits Knowlegde'.

"The educational system in Hong Kong - in which students are spoon-fed information - has often been criticised. It leads to students having no idea how to be creative in the pursuit of knowledge."

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Hard Choice? Chinese Internet Café Owners/Transport Operators Can Choose Between Paying For Chinese Movies Or Using Free Pirated Foreign Movies

Starting January 1, 2011, the China Film Copyright Association (CFCA) will charge money for the use of film works in internet cafés, on airplanes, ships and in buses and trains. They will start with eight municipalities and provinces, including Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangsu. Read the China Daily article here.

October 14, 2010, the National Copyright Administration issued two regulations:

• Films of Copyright Collective Management Fee Charged to Use the Standard'
• Collective Management of Copyright Works with the Transfer Fee to Pay Approach.

One could expect it, because the CFCA already submitted a Standard of User Charges for Copyright Collective Management of Film Works, see here. Alice Xin Liu writes that "[t]he Dongguan Times went with a really innovative design, issuing a fake letter from the China Film Copyright Association." Read her interesting story at the always excellent Danwei.org, here.

Then Xinhua runs a story entitled: 'China's New Film Royalty Rule Stirs Debate', and quoting one angry internet cafe owner in Chongqing municipality and another in Beijing.

Bad for foreign films, bad for Chinese films

IP Dragon is concerned that the owners of internet cafés and the operators of planes, trains, ships and buses are not charged for showing foreign films. This is not only discriminatory to foreign film makers, and in violation of international treaties, but it will hurt the fledgling Chinese film industry. There is not really fair competition if you have to pay for Chinese films and foreign pirated films you can use for free. The National Copyright Administration of China has already announced that this will not change in the near future. Maybe Hollywood, Bollywood and the European filmindustry can change their opinion.

UPDATE 2 November 2010

The China Film Copyright Association has invited foreign film copyright holders to cooperate on the issues of royalties and piracy. Read Clifford Coonan's article for Variety here.

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TGIF: Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Says The Darndest Things

Online copyright piracy is a serious problem. China has started a campaign of three months to blacklist websites with pirated content so that Chinese telecom operators can take them offline. Now one can question the effectiveness of this temporary measure, see here. But there are even worse solutions... Look at the idea of Brad Sherman, U.S. democratic representative, which goes.. let's say a bridge too far. Doug Palmer reported for Reuters that Sherman said the U.S. government should use cyber-combat techniques to take down internet sites in China, Russia and other countries that sell pirated U.S. music and movies. Of course the US could take Chinese websites offline if they are based on servers in the US, subject to US laws. But if the servers are in China, this would be obviously a violation of China's sovereignty and could be answered with similar cyber-combat strikes at US websites based on US servers.

Incredibly, Victoria Espinel, the US White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator responded allegedly, according to Palmer's Reuters article: "That is something we're actively investigating." And then Espinel allegedly continued: "But while it is technically possible, it does not take long for the sites to pop up in new locations." Was she seriously considering this or just like a thought experiment? Read more here.

The same article is a nice follow-up on the misguided use of hyperboles when one only wants to say that the level of IPR enforcement in China is unacceptably low. Sir Arthur Bamford called it "cancer", see here, and William Delahunt is taking the hyperbole one step further and calls China's low IPR enforcement "economic terrorism". These words are probably not conducive to solving the IPR enforcement challenge in China.

One might better use arguments for protection and enforcement of IPR in China (regardless whether these are in the hands of domestic or international companies/persons) that show China's advantages, based on David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage, and disadvantage if it engages in mercantilistic policies. This is hard, now that China's economy is so successful and the importance of its domestic market is growing. Ms Espinel, and many international IPR holders are facing a daunting task to protect and enforce IPR in China.

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Copyright Piracy in China: China Did Not Shed Its Fetish For Temporary Mass Campaigns

Blacklisting until the blacklisting goes on black again...

The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has started a campaign on July 21, which will last until the end of October, to blacklist websites that are found to contain pirated content.

According to IPR Focus, who run the People's Daily Online article, the action was announced jointly by the National Copyright Administration, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Read here.

It seems that in regard to intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement China did not lose its fetisch for temporary mass campaigns. We have seen these kind of campaigns over and over (see page 74 of my thesis Paper Tiger or Roaring Dragon). And the only thing that is missing is a nice poetic name.

The procedure to put the names on the website of the NCAC, so China's three telecom operators (China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile) can take them offline evokes questions. Do the websites get the chance to take down the pirated content first? What is wrong with a more durable solution to obligate websites to take down pirated content, and if they don't and the content is confirmed pirated by the NCAC, to let one of the telecom operators take the website offline.

Unsurprisingly the crack down will also focus on all content related to the Shanghai Expo and Guangzhou Asian Games. "Anyone who reports cases of infringement and piracy will get reward betwen 1,000 and 10,000 yuan." I guess the latter measure is only focused to enforce the IPR of these public events. Instead of spending the money on informers, the NCAC could enforce themselves or spend it on campaigns that should raise the awareness about IPR in general. China should know by now that there is more IPR to protect and enforce than the IPR of the Beijing Olympic Games, Shanghai World Expo and Guangzhou Asian Games.

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IP Dragon's "Shock and Awe" Holiday Tips

When in Paris, IP Dragon does not only highly recommend you to visit le Louvre at the rive droite and le Musée d'Orsay at the rive gauche so you will be awed by the original works of great artists. For a more, let's call it balanced world view, you must also hop on le métro and stop at Porte Dauphine in the XVI arrondissment, and stroll to Rue de la Faisanderie where you will find a very special place at number 16. Here you can witness the shockingly ingenuity and deception of the pirated and counterfeited products devised by devious but sometimes likewise brilliant minds at Le musée de la Contrefaçon. Quelle horreur, but how interesting! The Union des Fabricants pour la Protection Internationale de la Proprieté Intellectuelle (UNIFAB) has founded this museum already in 1951. See here. Therefore you can see the developments of the fakes over more than half a century and you will be confronted with some of its dramatic consequences. "The imitation will not have a secret for you anymore", as UNIFAB states. At the museum you will see that many of the counterfeits originate from China.

If you are not going to Paris this year you can visit another museum which exhibits the same subject matter: the Counterfeit Museum, sponsored by law firm Lehman Lee and Xu. Most law firms that deal with intellectual property law have a kind IP altar in the office where the fake and genuine goods are standing next to each other. It is a great idea to share them with the world via a virtual museum. Each law firm could do this, or even better when they join in so the collection at one museum will be more interesting. So far the Counterfeit Museum has four rooms: Clothing and Accessories, Food and Restaurants, Movies and Music, and Appliances.

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2010: Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court: "Baidu, Sohu/Sogou Are No Copyright Pirates"

- In June 2005 Shanghai Bu-sheng Music, a branch of EMI in China, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Baidu. Baidu was found liable by People's Court of Haidian District in Beijing for copyright infringement in September 16, 2005. Read more about it in Rouse's China Intellectual Property Express, Issue 265 here.
- In September 2006 zeven Hong Kong music companies brought a law suit against Baidu at Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court. Baidu was acquited in November, because it would be merely linking to third parties, see IP Dragon's post about it here and again Rouse's China IP Express, Issue 265 here. International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the organisation that represented the music companies was going to appeal.

- But in early 2008 three music companies brought a case against Baidu and Sohu/Sogou at Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.

The plainiffs were:

• Universal Music;
• Sony BMG Music Entertainment Hong Kong, and;
• Warner Music Hong Kong.

However, again all defendants were cleared of the accusations. Read the Reuters article by Kate Holton here.

Marcia Ellis, Jean Zheng and Paul Weiss wrote a concise article about the 'Safe Harbour Protection in China: How China's New Regulations Protect the Information Dissemination Rights of Digital Networks'. Please take note that the "new" Regulation on Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information entered into force on July 1, 2006.

The most important rule is article 23:

Article 23 Regulation on Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information:
"A network service provider that provides searching or linking services to a service object, and has disconnected the link to a work, performance, or audio-visual recording infringing on an other’s right after receiving notification from the owner, shall not be liable for compensation; however, if it knew or should have known that the linked work, performance, or audio-visual recording has infringed upon an other’s right, it shall bear liability for joint infringement."

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Shanda Literature Ltd Sues Baidu For Alleged Copyright Infringement

Xie Yu reports for China Daily about Shanda Literature Limited's lawsuit against Baidu for alledged copyright piracy. Read more here.

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Appellate Body Report in Sino-American Dispute about Market Access for Copyrighted Products

Yesterday, it was announced that the Report of the Appellate Body in China – Measures Affecting Trading Rights and Distribution Services for Certain Publications and Audiovisual Entertainment Products, WT/DS363/AB/R was published. The three Members of the Appellate Body who served on this appeal were:

Ms. Jennifer Hillman, as Presiding Member, Mr. Shotaro Oshima and Mr. Ricardo Ramírez-Hernández.

You can download the 183 pg report here (see on your right hand side 'All documents').
I have not read the whole thing yet, but according to the Financial Times the report has the following conclusion:

• The Appeals Body upheld the Dispute Panel Body ruling that restrictions on imports of US films and music are not allowed under WTO;
• US and other foreign companies should be allowed to import films, music and books into China, rather than through state-owned entities;
• US and other foreign companies should be permitted joint ventures with Chinese companies to dirstribute music over the internet;
• The right to censor foreign films and publications is not challenged, nor the Chinese quota 20 foreign movies a year.

The relation between market access and copyright infringement is simply that market access restrictions for copyrighted products will create demand for copyright piracy.

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Media Control Not Copyright Piracy Main Reason For China's Battle Against BitTorrent

Frederik Borgesius (research master at IViR, studying copyright law and internet law for a semester at the University of Hong Kong, paralegal at solv.nl, a Dutch IP & IT boutique law firm, and "dj Fred" by night at Yumla for example) sent IP Dragon an interesting link.

It's about China's aggressive stance against BitTorrent sites. In some countries BitTorrent sites are shut down. Mainly because of copyright piracy. In China the most important reason seems to be control over the media; China’s State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) concern is video websites that lack appropriate licensing and certification by the government, allegedly damaging children's minds and undermining national security. Read TorrentFreak's article by enigmax, here.

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60 percent of Hong Kong Young Download Films or Music Illegally

Adrian Wan, of the South China Morning of Friday, August 21st, reported that 60 percent of young people in Hong Kong download films or music illegally, according to Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG) survey.

17 perent of 559 respondents aged 10 to 24 were unsure whether they were breaking copyright law.

More can be found via the HKFYG website in the article Youth Research Centre and Lakshmi Jacota on the rise of connectivity: statistics and behaviour.

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Effect of DS362 on Copyright Piracy in China Nil?

Rogier Creemers of the University of Maastricht, Faculty of Law, has written an interesting article that will be published in the forthcoming number of European Intellectual Property Review:

'The Effects of WTO Case DS362 on Audiovisual Media Piracy in China'.

"The outcome of the recent WTO case China - Intellectual Property Rights, mainly concerned with copyright matters, was touted by both the U.S. and China as a victory. Looking beyond the rhetoric, however, shows that the effect of this case on copyright piracy in the real world is limited. The article outlines the case and analyzes its effects. Furthermore, it widens the scope of analysis, to include other factors influencing IP infringements in China, which are crucial in creating and supporting copyright piracy."

You can download the 22-page article from the SSRN site here.

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May You Live In Interesting Times Online: Does China's Green Dam Includes Pirated Code?

May you live in interesting times on the Chinese internet: pre-installed filtering technology which is used to censor, a passionate opinion against it supported by a massive internet survey, and last but not least the very filtering software might be qualified as copyright infringement.

Of course I am talking about Green Dam: China wants its citizens to use pre-installed filtering software to avoid that they will be exposed to pornography and I assume also to texts that include words deemed a threat to the Chinese government. This censorship method China called Green Dam. Alexa Olesen of the Associated Press quoted an anonymous Chinese official saying that Green Dam is not compulsory, see here. However, I guess not pre-installing Green Wall might not be conducive for computer manufacturers that want to sell in China. Then again, Chen Weihua, reported in an unprecedented frank way 'Let's not allow the Green Dam software to block our way into the future' on China Daily about an opinion poll on Sina.com, which showed that 90 percent of the people polled will not use Green Dam, read here. By the way: to stop all unwelcome information is not feasible for any government; the higher the dam the more forceful the water will stream out through the cracks.

Now, US software maker Solid Oak Software has sent cease and desist letters to computer manufacturers Dell and Hewlett-Packard, because it alleges that the Green Wall software includes code of which the graphical user interface (GUI) has the same look and feel as Solid Oak's Cybersitter software, which would constitute copyright infringement.

Isn't it ironical that the filtering software that could be used (maybe with different technology) against copyright infringements itself might be pirated?

Read Mark Hachman's article for PCMAG.com, which links to many relevant PCMag.com articles about the same subject.

UPDATE

I was linking the expression 'May you live in interesting times' to the Wikipedia page about it. This is what Charles R. Stone has to say about it. Thanks Charles.

Charles R. Stone: "My vote for a possible Chinese origin for "May you live in interesting times," if indeed we should be looking for a Chinese source, is: 多事之秋。It's found a few times in classical histories and Ming dynasty novels, as a Google search will show. (Insert pages of footnotes.) The problem, of course, is that it's not used as an imprecation in these sources. It figuratively means something like "a season of much trouble." The step to "may you live in a season of much trouble," or "may you live in interesting times," is not a big one. In any event, it seems more plausible than "It's better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period" as the Wikipedia link speculates."

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WSJ Reports 90 Percent of China's Netizens Access Pirated Music

Mira Veda of the Huffington Post writes "The Wall Street Journal reports that 90% of China's Web Users, which is estimated to be about 162 million people, access pirated music from their computers every day ... " Read here.

Ms Veda, and with her many others, is doubting what the next best business model for the music industry will be in times of massive digital piracy: Google's advertising model (read 'Giving Away Music for Free to Destroy Copyright Piracy: Operation Succes, Patient Dead?') or France's three strikes system (read 'Taiwan's Three Strikes System Less Strict Than French Equivalent'), or some other model. Ms Veda is convinced that some regulation is a prerequisite for the world to see the potential of authors and performing artists that otherwise cannot afford to make music.

Below Ms Veda's article rjmiller (Rob Miller, who is a musician and songwriter) comments that regulation is not the answer and that it only hurts the extremely succesful musicians, quoting Tim O'Reilly 'Piracy is Progressive Taxation'. Mr Miller also wrote: "If you've ever spoken to an Indie artist, they don't worry about piracy, they worry about obscurity". 

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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.

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