International Law

Register ?em if you got ?em

By Stan

Nobody likes a grouch, so I’m going to try and tone things down a bit. I will keep my complaints confined to other people’s writing, like a good blogger should. (And there was much rejoicing.)

More interesting is Dan’s comment on the Motorola case. Although it’s old hat to practitioners that you won’t own IP over here until you register it, Dan reminds us that it always bears repeating. I’ll definitely go along with that since I’ve seen too many train wrecks in the past.

A large number of so-called infringement cases over here are really instances where trademarks or technology has never been registered. No registration, no IP — no "legal" infringement. And therefore no enforcement possible (in most cases). Unfortunately, these are some of the most vocal folks running to the press and the U.S. government, complaining that the IP enforcement system here is not effective.

Not only does it bear mentioning that Motorola would not have a case at all if they hadn’t filed, but also it should be noted that this was a design patent, which is extremely cheap and takes maybe six months or so to be granted. While filing design patents does not make sense for some companies whose product cycles are extremely short, it certainly works in many industries.

Full post as published by China Hearsay on March 05, 2008 (boomark / email).