Shenzhen Chinese Hop Border Hong Kong For Porn Movie in Three Dimensions

For some Daoist sex advice read
China Expat's article here.

Some months ago an American porn company sought my advice on copyright law in China. "Is porn copyrighted in China and can you sell it there?" A movie, whether porn or not, is copyrighted, thus protectable and enforceable in principle (since the amendment of article 4 Copyright Law, after the WTO dispute resolution DS 362 panel's decision, read more here). But that does not mean you can sell it legally in China. Pornography is prohibited since 1949. Exploiting a popular porn site can get you into jail... for life! You can read about the 2005 case here. That information was a cold shower for the U.S. porn company. Therefore I was extra surprised to read the rather positive and extensive article (4 pages) in the Global Times (China's answer to CNN) on porn movie tourism from Shenzhen to Hong Kong movie theaters. Read here. Because it is a Hong Kong movie, if it was not porn, it would be well positioned to be shown in China, since Hong Kong movies are not considered foreign, see here. China Hearsay's Stan Abrams has written so extensively about the restrictions on foreign movies in China that he, tongue-in-cheek, is considering to write a book about it, see here.   

I am intrigued by everything with Zen in the title, see here. But I missed all the commotion around the movie 'Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstacy' in 3-D.  It's a costume drama released in Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand on April 14, 2011. Why is the Global Times so tolerant in their descriptions about this porn movie and the tourism it spawned to Hong Kong? Is it because the porn movie is, well, Chinese culture? "Based on the 1657 erotic novel The Carnal Prayer Mat written by Qing Dynasty author Li Yu that chronicles the sexual exploits and orgies of a young Ming Dynasty scholar named Wei Yangsheng who realizes that true love is hard to find." Or is it just good for Hong Kong business, and China is considering it should be more lenient towards Hong Kong since it took away its monopoly to have a Disneyland on its Special Administrative Region by granting Shanghai permission to have a Disneyland too. Well if you have another speculation, let me know.

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Siren Got Rid of the Letters "Starbucks"

Starbucks revised its logo for the fourth time (1971, 1987, 1992 and now in 2001), see overview here.
It was announced already January 5, 2011 by senior creative manager Mike P. here.

Logo change announced on Hong Kong TV on the MTR
Photo: Danny Friedmann

However, only May 27, 2011 the new logo was introduced in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. To change a brand like that is a huge operation, which starts with the design and customer surveys, then the registration of the trademark for the new variant logo.

The rationale behind the move, in the words of Mike P:

"From the start, we wanted to recognize and honor the important equities of the iconic Starbucks logo. So we broke down the four main parts of the mark – color, shape, typeface and the Siren. After hundreds of explorations, we found the answer in simplicity. Removing the words from the mark, bringing in the green, and taking the Siren out of her ring. For forty years she’s represented coffee, and now she is the star."

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Keep the May Calendar Free For IP events in Hong Kong and Macao

IP Dragon's friend Anselm Kamerman Sanders of Maastricht University organised this time two interesting events in Hong Kong and Macao.

The events are organised by the Institute for European Studies of Macau and Maastricht University Faculty of Law. For the Hong Kong leg it is co-organised by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Annual Professional IP Update, followed by the 12th Annual IEEM IP Seminar, May 21-24

The Annual Professional Update provides an overview of all relevant cases and legislative developments of the past year from all over the world. During one day you will be brought up to speed on the major important legal decisions and developments in intellectual property law and policy.

Location for Saturday 21 May: Graduate Law Center of the Chinese University of Hong Kong

The two-days Annual Intellectual Property Seminar offers a forum for IP professionals wishing to be part of a thought-provoking discussion on cutting-edge developments in intellectual propety law and policy. Distinguished practitioners, judges and academics from all over the world have contributed to this event. The papers they have presented have been published in book form by Kluwer Law International and Hart Publishing.

In 2011 the 12th Annual IP Seminar's topic will be:

Consumers, Facilitators, and Intermediaries - IP Infringers or Innocent Bystanders?

A group of distinguished speakers has been confirmed to speak on issues such as ISP liability, unwarranted threats to primary and secondary infringers, contributory and secondary liability for patent and copyright infringement, Google ads and trademark infringement, liability for transporters and freighters, time and geo-shifting devices and services, eBay and trademark infringement, and the impact of sporting events legislation on the public sphere.

Location for 23-24 May: Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16, Macao

Speakers include inter alia: Irene Calboli (Marquette University) Christopher Heath (EPO), Byung-Il Kim (Hanyang University), David Llewelyn (White & Case), Jan Nordemann (University of Berlin), Anselm Kamperman Sanders (Maastricht University), Pascale Trefigny (University of Grenoble), Tasuhiro Ueno (University of Tokyo), Bryan Mercurio (Chinese University of Hong Kong). They will be joined by local Hong Kong and Macau practitioners.

For updated information check the site of the Maastricht University here.

But Professor Kamperman Sanders has even more on offer:

The Intellectual Property Law School - 16 until 20 May 2011

The IP Law School is an initiative in Asia offering a taught programme in international Intellectual Property Law and its relevance for global, European and Asian economic development and innovation policy.

"The IP Law School is extremely suited for trainee lawyers, Intellectual Property professionals with an economic or policy background, and master students in Intellectual Property wishing to enhance their skills at post-academic level. Starting from the basics of the Paris and Berne conventions, the course covers the development of Intellectual Property Law all the way to the WTO TRIPS Agreement and the WIPO Copyright treaties. Attention is also devoted to regional arrangements, such as the European Patent Convention, and other new international and national initiatives. From a policy perspective free trade agreements and bilateral investment arrangements covering Intellectual Property, as well as ongoing negotiations in the area of protection of traditional knowledge will be covered."

Classes are offered in an intensive Socratic format in the course of one week by experts in the field.
There are substantial concessions for students wishing to follow the whole week-and-a-half.

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Who Needs Le Louvre If You Can Touch Fake Sculptures in Hong Kong?

From December 10 to February 20, 2011, you can see and feel 18 fake sculptures in the Hong Kong Museum of Art in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. The real ones will stay safe in Le Louvre in Paris. The invitation to touch in combination with the picture on the advertisement of Venus de Milo (Aphrodite de Milo) is awkward for the prudish Hong Kong government, because she is ... well not really dressed. And if you look carefully at the picture you see a giant hand holding the sculpture, not unlike King Kong's fist, but then shaven. Or, the replica is made on a smaller scale of course. After having had the privilege to see the real sculptures I will pass this time. Even though it is tempting to touch Venus (and she cannot even slap you for it) and her replica colleagues, IP Dragon thinks nothing beats the original sculptures. These bear so much history can you sense it, without touching. I do not know whether this makes me implicitly into a proponent of lugging the invaluable classic sculptures with all risks involved, or whether I advocate for the Hong Kong people to massively fly to Paris and increase their ecological footprint.

For those of you who are tactilely inclined, you can find more information:

http://hk.art.museum (notice the .museum top level domain name)

You can click on the picture (Danny Friedmann) to enlarge.

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USCC 2010 Report Released

2010 Report to [the U.S.] Congress of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission (USCC) has been released. The report is 324 pages long and IP Dragon will read those parts relevant to intellectual property in China, including market access, in the coming weeks.

If you cannot wait read the 4 page opening remarks of Chairman Dan Slane and Vice Chairman (why not vice chairperson?) Carolyn Bartholomew on the report which includes information about indigenous innovation and procurement in China without applying the WTO Governement Procurement Agreement (GPA) rules (which is not that strange since its status is observer since February 21, 2002, not party, see here, Hong Kong is party June 19, 1997 and Taiwan July 15, 2009), a striking name for China's approach to internet control as "networked authoritarianism" and its take on the hijacking of U.S. internet traffic. Read here.

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IP Dragon's Book Review: Invisible Gold in Asia

Professor David Llewelyn (King's College London and IP Academy, Singapore) wrote an exceptional book that will appeal to both laypeople and IP professionals. Although Invisible Gold in Asia does not aim to be a scholarly book (for example there are no footnotes), the book could not be written by a non-scholar. For laypeople the book lays out the intricacies of intellectual property rights and their relationships to wealth creation, a topic incredibly comprehensive and therefore almost unmanageable, in digestible parts. For the IP professionals the book is a treasure of anecdotes worth knowing and sketches the whole field of IP in Asia, and thereby giving some crucial context even to IP professionals, since most of them cover only some part of intellectual property rights, and their focus is often geographically limited. Professor Llewelyn's educational capabilities are charged by years of teaching a critical mass of students. Therefore when he touches upon a complex subject, he goes just deep enough into the matter to convey the essence of the subject. When you read the easy flowing book, you will notice that Professor Llewelyn not only wants to illuminate the obscure world of IP, but he has a message as well: basically he wants to wake up everybody inside and outside of Asia that IP, will be of crucial importance for Asia in the coming years. Professor Llewelyn rightly divides two markets for the world of IP: the USA and the rest of the world. But the role of Asia and the role of IP in Asia will become ever more important. And he tries to make the reader aware that IP rights are not mere liabilities, but they could be valuable assets. The book is structured in two parts. In part I Professor Llewelyn is going on a tour de force as he gives an overview of all intellectual property rights and their different characteristics. He can do this like no other, see here. In part II he gives describes the Asian IP landscape: Japan, the Little Dragons/Tigers (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea and Singapore), China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Vietnam, Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia. My favorite chapters where about the Little Dragons (or Little Tigers) and China. Professor Llewelyn sketches in a few sentences a mini-biography of some highly interesting Chinese companies with iconic brands and IP, such as Li Ning, Haier Group, Mengniu, Huawei, ZTE etc. Before the text Professor Llewelyn put a great maxim: "Don't make the mistake of thinking something is valuable merely because you can measure it. It is far better to work out what you can value and then see if you can measure it." That same maxim could not only be applied to IP, but to reading a book such as Invisible Gold in Asia as well.

If you want to get an overview of IP in Asia, this is the book to read. If you are an IP professional the book is the perfect present to give to clients, so that they can learn about the importance of IP, or to give to your spouse, or friends, so that they can get a clue about what you are doing.

Invisible Gold in Asia, Creating Wealth Through Intellectual Property, can be bought at Marshall Cavendish Business.

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International Intellectual Property Summit in Hong Kong

Interpol, Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department and Underwriters Laboratories hosted the International Intellectual Property Summit in Hong Kong

One of the speakers on October 18, was the US attorney general, Eric Holder. Besides, emphasising the consequences of counterfeiting and piracy he explained the framework in the US that should improve IP enforcement internationally:

- White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel;

- National Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Center, led by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement;

- Justice Department's Task Force on Intellectual Property.

- Intellectual Property Working Group on the U.S.-China Joint Liaison Group for Law Enforcement Cooperation.

Read the text of Mr Holden on the site of the U.S. Department of Justice here.

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Welsh Dragon Copied Hong Kong Dragon?

The logo of Sport Wales is very similar to the controversial Hong Kong's redesigned city brand. Only the Welsh dragon's tongue sticks out and Hong Kong has longer ribbons.

It cost 9 million HK dollar to develop the brand. And 1.4 million HK dollar to redesign the brand. The three ribbons were added. Blue ribbon: blue skies (ahem!), green ribbon: sustainable environment, Lion Rock in the red: can-do spirit of Hongkongers.

Fox Yi Hu wrote an article about it in the Sunday Morning Post of April 25, 2010. Fox quotes a spokeswoman of the Hong Kong government about the brand who said that: "If someone wants to use it, they need to apply to Brand Hong Kong. We reserve the right to take action against any unauthorised use." Read Fox Yi Hu's article here.

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