USITC: "China's IP and Indigenous Innovation Cost U.S. 48,2 billion dollar"

Photo Danny Friedmann
"Maybe we need more resources for IP enforcement?"

The U.S. International Trade Commission report (ITC), commissioned by the U.S. Senate has been published. The title of the ITC report is: China: Effects of Intellectual Property Infringement and Indigenous Innovation Policies on the U.S. Economy. One of the effects, according to the writers, is that IP infringements and preferential treatment for indigenous innovation cost the U.S. economy in 2009 48,2 billion dollar. We have to be patient for the 2010 result.  I have glanced through the whole thing. It is nice that they refer to an article of mine “China: China’s National IP Strategy 2008; Feasible Commitments or Road to Nowhere Paved with Good Intentions?" on biblio-page 7.

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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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Prepositions in China Product Labels Tell It All: Good Bye Country of Origin, Hello Country of Destination

1 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1,000th article

The world is flat according to Thomas Friedman, and therefore the determination of the country of origin of most products is becoming more complex. So what should be put on the product labels? Below a short history.

Made in China
The probability that any given product has a label 'Made in China' (中国制造) is quite high. Because of some lethal food and drink scandals and recalls, its reputation was dealt some major blows. Dirk Lammers wrote in 2007 an article for MSNBC.com about the effort his family made to avoid one week products with the label Made in China. Read here.

Made with China
To associate China products with Western quality, a "co-branding" campaign was started in 2009, under the banner of Made with China. As you can see in the video: Made in China, with American sports technology, Made in China with European styling, Made in China with software from Silicon Valley, Made in China with French design. Read also Jin Zhu's China Daily article about a static advertisement during the Shanghai F1 Grand Prix, in April 2010, here.




World Trade Organization (WTO) General-Director Pascal Lamy was trying to ion out trade disputes bubbling up, and invoking David Ricardo's theory on comparative advantage,
to put it into perspective. Mr Lamy used the example of an iPod.

"According to a recent study, it has an export value of $150 per unit in Chinese trade statistics but the value added attributable to processing in China is only $4, with the remaining value added assembled in China coming from the United States, Japan, and other Asian countries."

Read Mr Lamy's speech of April 2010 here.

Made for China

trendwatching.com identified eleven trends in 2010. On number 11 is Western products and brands that are adapted and specially 'made for China, if not BRIC'. The explanation is that Western companies want to profit from the economic growth in China by leveraging the perceived quality of Western goods and brands. An example is Shang Xia, a new brand of French luxury house Hermès.

"Affluent Chinese consumers prefer foreign brands: 52% of consumers whose annual income exceeds RMB 250,000 (USD 36,765) trust foreign brands more than Chinese ones while just 37% said they prefer the latter. (Source: McKinsey, September 2010)"

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Innovative Copycats? MIIT Vice Minister's Remark On Piggybacking of Innovative Copycats

3 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1,000th article

Adam Smith of World Trademark Review wrote a column about China's Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Yang Xueshan, who made a controversial remark: that the innovative elements of copycat products should be protected and encouraged. Mr Smith interviewed yours truly:

"Danny Friedmann, an IP rights consultant in China and author of IP Dragon, supports Yang in this, but disagrees with his reported statement that knockoff products should not be labelled as piggybacking on another's intellectual property without proper assessment. "If you base your innovation on existing proprietary technology or design or a brand, it is piggybacking," said Friedmann. "That does not say that the innovation is not of a high standard or not sorely needed. If you steal paint and canvas and then paint a beautiful piece of art, you are both a thief and an artist. Yang wants to stress only the latter.""

Read Adam Smith's column here.

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June 25, Seminar: 'Managing IPR As A Business Asset in Greater China'

IP Dragon is delighted to invite everyone interested in IPR in China to a seminar called 'Managing IPR as a Business Asset in Greater China' organised by EUBIP and China IPR-SME Helpdesk. (Take note: some speakers still need to confirm). I confirmed.

When? Friday 25 June, 2010

Where? HK Convention & Exhibition Center

What is the programme?

8:30-8:50 Registration and Coffee

8:50-9:00 Welcoming remarks

Morning: General China IPR Overview for European SMEs

9:00-10.00 Session 1:

Protecting your intellectual property in China? Why it is so important.

• Is IPR protection in China possible and how?
• China IPR environment and what businesses need to know?

Speaker presentation 2x20 min + Q&A

• Elliot Papageorgiou, Rouse & Co (speaker)
• Other speaker (to be confirmed)

10.00-10:15 Coffee break

10:15-11:15 Session 2:

• How to identify and leverage your IP assets?
• Working with Chinese business partners - how to structure relationships to protect your assets?

Speaker presentation 2x20 min. + Q&A

• Serena Tierney, Consultant at Wragge & Co LLP (speaker)
• Willi Vett, Beiten Burkhardt Hong Kong (speaker)
• Dr. Christopher Heath, member of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office, former head of the Asia Department of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property law, Munich (moderator)

11:15- 11:30 Coffee break

11:30-12:30 Session 3

IP Management and Enforcement

• How to prevent IPR infringements and steps to take if you discover infringements
• IPR Enforcement process in China

Speaker presentation 2x20 min. + Q&A

• Danny Friedmann, Chinese University of Hong Kong / IP Dragon (speaker)
• Henry Wheare, Partner Lovells Hong Kong (speaker)
• Professor Anselm Kamperman Sanders (moderator)

12:30-13:30 Lunch

Afternoon Panel Discussion / Clini Sessions + Networking

13:30-14:30 Panel Discussion

• Dr. Christopher Heath
• speaker
• Serena Tierney
• Elliot Papgeorgiou
• Anselm Kamperman Sanders (moderator)

14:40-15:00 Clinic Session 1/Networking

15:10-15:30 Clinic Session 2/Networking

15:40-16:00 Clinic Session 3/Networking

16:00 Closure

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Fake iPhones: Rip-off or Innovation

iPhone in relation to China is in the news again. Stan Abrams of China Hearsay wrote about the alleged looming problems with Apple's iPhone trademark in China, see here. And then I was interviewed by Sophie Pilgrim of France 24, the French BBC so to say, about a video by MacMedics and about iPhones, counterfeiting and what you can do about it.

However, the third point I make about what to do against counterfeiting was not: "Get a strong legal team. This isn’t very useful in China, though, where foreign companies are afraid of saying anything because they want to continue investing in the country, since it’s very cheap to manufacture there."

It must be:

"Register your IPR's (or so you will get a strong legal team). But you need to be willing to litigate. Some foreign companies are afraid of saying anything because they don't want to jeopardise their investments in the country, and they want to keep on manufacturing there, since it is still relatively cheap."

You can check out the interview here.

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IP Dragon Writes Book About Intellectual Property in China

Dear readers,

I am delighted to announce that I am writing a book for Oxford University Press about intellecual property rights in China. It will be published in 2010.

I thank all the (anonymous) peer reviewers that have given feedback to my book proposal.

Cheers,

Danny Friedmann

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Thesis: Paper Tiger or Roaring Dragon, China's TRIPs Implementations and Enforcement

Thesis by Danny Friedmann,
thesis advisor Professor P. Bernt Hugenholtz, Professor Peter K. Yu:
Paper Tiger or Roaring Dragon
China's TRIPs Implementations and Enforcement

Abstract:
Thesis about whether China’s IPR enforcement laws are TRIPs compliant.

At least on paper most of China’s IPR procedural laws are compliant with specific TRIPs provisions. China’s IPR laws are certainly non-compliant to the more general provisions of TRIPs, due to incompatible extra-judicial factors. Nevertheless, no unequivocal preference for a WTO case against China can be given. Another option, although more complicated, to tackle China’s IPR enforcement challenges is to be preferred: to address China’s transparency, market access, uniform application of law, integrity and impartiality of the courts and expertise in and respect for IPR.

Read the thesis here (pdf). Your comments are very welcome at ipdragon at gmail dot com.

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