Two Encouraging Surveys: On Public Awareness and Business Attitudes of Intellectual Property Rights in Hong Kong

Selene Ng of Wilkinson and Grist wrote an article on the site of IAM Magazine about an encouraging outcome of a survey on public awareness of intellectual property protection by the Hong Kong population. The Survey on Public Awareness of Intellectual Property Right Protection 香港市民保護知識產權意識調查 2008 conducted by Mercador Solutions Associates Ltd., commissioned by the IP Department of Hong Kong. It showed that 96.3 percent of the surveyed group (1,003 repondents, response rate of 51.5 percent) considered that it was very/quite necessary to protect the IP rights in Hong Kong.

However, awareness does not necessarily convert into online behaviour that is respectful towards intellectual property rights. 78.6 percent stated that they probably/definitely would not pay to download songs, movies, games or ebooks. Why? The main reason for this was that purchasing legitimate content is “considered troublesome in purchasing online” (47.0%). When this group is downloading chances are that they access pirated content. So it is safe to assume that there is enough work to do for the intellectual property department of firms, such as Wilkinson and Grist, to enforce IPRs in Hong Kong. Read Ms Ng's article here.

Then there was another rather encouraging survey: Survey on Business Attitudes to Intellectual Property 香港商業機構知識產權意識調查 2008 conducted by Mercador Solutions Associates Ltd. , commissioned by the IP Department of Hong Kong (1,001 business establishments surveyed, response rate 30.3 percent) which showed that: 

• 98.3% of business establishments considered intellectual properties (e.g. patents for invented products / technology, design, logo or brand name) of the surveyed group in Hong Kong valuable assets of a company;
• 93.7% of the business establishments considered that it was very/quite necessary to protect IP rights in the business environment of Hong Kong.
  

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AMP: "Economic Crisis Should Make German Government Act More Aggressively Against Counterfeiters"

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) interviewed Mr Rüdiger Stihl, chairman of the Aktionskreises gegen Produkt- und Markenpiraterie (APM). The resulting article at the site of N24 (in German) gives a good overview of the damages that are caused by counterfeit products originating from China (for 75 percent) and Turkey (10 percent) and the measures that APM is proposing.

APM claims that:

• the counterfeit products on the German market represent a value of an estimated 30 million euro;
• 70.000 jobs in Germany are lost because of the counterfeit products.

APM demands more agressive measures from the governement, especially now during the economic crisis:

• counterfeiters should get draconic sanctions, including imprisonment;
• not only should the counterfeit products be seized that tourists bought, but they should get a fine as well.

To raise public awareness and sensitise German citizens, APM is organising an exhibition, called 'Schöner Schein. Dunkler Schatten' which means 'Glamour appearance. Dark shadow', that will be held medio 2010 in 30 German shopping centres and must inform 10 million consumers about the risks of counterfeit products.

Bleak reminder

Market price of 1 kilo counterfeit viagra: 90,000 euro (dealers are in many cases not even prosecuted); Market price 1 kilo heroin: 40,000 euro (dealers are risking high jail sentences). You can guess what is the most profitable/low risk business for organised crime.

Update: Mr John Bingham wrote an article for the Telegraph.co.uk in which he claims that drug dealers switch from cocaine to fake viagra, read here.

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How Should China Spend Its Extra Yuan On IPR Enforcement?

Mr Stan Abrams of China Hearsay has another interesting article. He is criticising yet another public awareness campaign by the Chinese Ministry of Culture (MOC).
Mr Abrams writes: "Advertising, seminars and training courses arranged by MOC will have limited effect. Public education only goes so far." He suggests that it might be better to hire more cops to enforce IPR. I concur.

Public awareness campaigns, if done in a smart way, (that means something else than "a special day for the destruction of illegal audiovisual products", which will be on April 26, exactly one month from today, I cannot wait, my o my) could bring down the level of IPR infringements in the long run. But then again it is only logical that IPR enforcement will become better in the long run, because when IPR is becoming more important to Chinese companies if they develop more innovative products, that will be the point when there will be an internal pressure to the Chinese government to enforce IPR more stringently. For this we only have to be patient.

In the mean time the IPR infringements level is much too high, and the PBS (police) and other administrative enforcement authorities, in particular the National Copyright Administration of China which has only 300 (!) persons for the enforcement of copyright in the whole of China, surely need a boost (which is still an understatement).

Read Mr Abram's article here.

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