International Law

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

Posted on December 22, 2010
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 ...

Benchmarking China's IPR Protection and Enforcement

Posted on December 22, 2010
In response to China's umpteenth pledge to protect intellectual property, Mr Robert Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said: "We will know China has made real progress in reducing piracy only when software companies start seeing substantial increases in sales...

Paradox of Strong Brands in China: Cause And Cure of Counterfeiting

Posted on December 20, 2010
If you have a strong brand, chances are that your trademark will be counterfeited in China. The counterfeiter can simply manufacture unauthorised copies of a popular brand: no developing costs, no marketing costs, and certainty about the demand. Then again chances are very slim that a company with a strong brand will counterfeit your trademark...

Parallel Universe Shenzhen: Where The iPads Run on Android

Posted on December 18, 2010
The market penetration of Google's Android mobile operating system has reached the second place, after Nokia's Symbian and in front of Apple's iOS. It would be unheard of in this stadium that Apple would strike a deal with Google to make a variation of iPad that would run on Google's Android operating system...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Just Sue Them! Nike Went After One End User For Ordering Chinese Counterfeit Trainers Via The Internet

Posted on December 16, 2010
Nike International Limited (Bermuda), Nike European Operations Netherlands BV and Nike UK Limited sued Mr E. Bateman for buying counterfeit trainers via the internet, in the England and Wales Patent County Court (served August 26, 2010 and heard October 11, 2010)...

Sex, Lies And The Right of Integrity of the Grimm Brothers' Heirs

Posted on December 14, 2010
The (Hong Kong ) Standard has an Agence France-Press article 'Sex-crazed dwarfs get pulled' about China Friendship Publishing Company and China Media Time that copied the erotic adaption of the Grimm brothers' Fairy Tales by the Japanese duo Kiryu Misao...

Three Main Problem Categories To Foreign Related IPR Litigation in China

Posted on December 13, 2010
The President Assistant of the Civil Fifith Court, part of the Beijing Municipal Intermediate People's Court Number 1, Yi Jun gave his view on what are the most important foreign-related IPR ligitation problems. The President Assistant distinguishes three categories of problems:"1...

32 Senators Urge Vice-Premier State Council to Fix IPR and Indigenous Innovation Policy in China

Posted on December 12, 2010
32 U.S. senators have sent an open letter to Wang Qishan, China's Vice-Premier of the State Council. They urge him to use the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) to address the problems U.S. companies face in regard to:Intellectual Property Rights in China;China's policy to favour indigenous innovation and not signing the World Trade Organization's Government Procurement Agreement...

Professor T. Ginsburg's "Eastphalia" Theory Applicable To IPR Law in China?

Posted on December 11, 2010
Yesterday, Professor Tom Ginsburg of University of Chicago Law School was giving a presentation at the University of Hong Kong about his paper 'Eastphalia As The Perfection Of Westphalia', which will be published in the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies...

Botanical DNA To Authenticate Mobile Phones, Laptops, Electronica

Posted on December 11, 2010
In the battle against ever more inventive counterfeiters ever more inventive authentication systems are needed. Applied DNA Sciences and Nissha Printing will collaborate on DNA authentication solutions for mobile phones, laptops and electronics. Read the press release by Applied DNA Sciences here.

U.S. Senator Snaps Over Counterfeit Guitar Strings from China

Posted on December 11, 2010
Long Island, New York City guitar string company D'Addario's is facing online counterfeit challenges which originate from China. U.S. senator Charles E. Schumer urges the Homeland Department of Security to investigate and take all needed enforcement measures...

Confucius Peace Prize: Did China Just Counterfeit the Nobel Peace Prize?

Posted on December 10, 2010
What has been China's reaction to institutions it does not have any grip on? Come up with new substitutes. When the Holy Seat in Rome would not listen to Beijing it came up with its own version of this church, under the auspices of the Roman Patriotic Catholic Association...

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

Posted on December 09, 2010
1 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1,000th articleThe 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...

HKPC Grants 100 mln HK Dollar: But What Is So Innovative About A Reverse-Engineered Seat For An Outdated Plane?

Posted on December 07, 2010
2 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1000th articleJake van der Kamp, columnist of Jake's View in the South China Morning Post is filleting Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC)'s decision to grant 10 million HK dollar from the Innovation and Technology Fund to reverse engineer economy class seats for the Airbus A340, a plane that is phased-out...

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

Posted on December 06, 2010
3 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1,000th articleAdam 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...

IP Dragon Book Review: Poorly Made In China

Posted on December 06, 2010
Paul Midler's book Poorly Made in China is remarkable. He not only wrote a first hand account of the challenges companies face when they manufacture their products in China, but did it in a lucid, literary style, something you would not expect given the prosaic character of the subject...

WikiLeaks U.S. Cable: "Chinese Government Ordered Hack Google"

Posted on December 04, 2010
Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post wrote: "The penetrations resulted in the theft of "significant" intellectual property, Google officials said." Read her article her. Whether it is true or not is unsure: the source is anonymous and the leaker too (are not necessarily the same)...

Music in China Business Model: Life Without Oxygen Possible?

Posted on December 04, 2010
6 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1000th articleNASA discovered that life can exist even without the 6 building blocks that were presumed crucial; carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur, read here. In the same vain the music industry thought for a long time that their only way of survival was selling songs...

Consolidation of China's Internet Market Will Breed Better IPR Protection and Enforcement

Posted on December 02, 2010
7 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1000th articleChina Knowledge@Wharton, a bi-weekly online resource, has an interesting overview article about the Land-Grab Mentality: The Cutthroat Competition on China's Internet. Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting in Beijing said that in the business environment where rules can change overnight, people are searching and finding shortcuts...

Did BAIC Know It Was Joyriding With Ford's Trade Secrets?

Posted on November 30, 2010
8 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1000th article November 17, 2010 Xiang Dong Yu, an automobile engineer who worked for Ford Motor Corporation from 1997-2007, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of trade secrets, as was announced by the Department of Justice of the Eastern District of Michigan...

How Green Should Patents in China Be? Poisonous Green

Posted on November 29, 2010
9 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1000th articleIf you live in China, you will easily see one of its biggest problems: pollution. In China car manufacturers claim that they are unable to produce low-cost hybrid cars because of a small number of companies that have patented key components, writes Mauricio Bauermann Guaragna in a very interesting article for ISIS, a research centre of the Sauder School of Business of the University of British Columbia, see here...

Why China Is Preferred Over India By The U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry

Posted on November 29, 2010
10 articles to go: IP Dragon on its way to its 1000th articleJoseph Alexander wrote for Pharmabiz.com that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of Amercia (PhRMA) choose for the China Pharmaceutical Industry Research and Development Association (SINO-PhIRDA) to cooperate and continue a regular dialogue...

Parasitizing Trademarks of Drugs in China Breeds Resistant Malaria Parasite

Posted on November 28, 2010
World Health Organisation (WHO) officials say that counterfeit drugs and poor storage are endangering the health of millions of people in Asia. Ron Corben wrote for Voice Of Amercia the article WTO Fears Growing Malaria Drug Resistance May Be Spreading (November 28, 2010): "In recent years, authorities cracked down against illegal factories in China...

Tian Lipu: "No Plagiarism 'cause China's High Speed Rail Systems Climb Mountains"

Posted on November 28, 2010
At the 'Third Intellectual Property and Urban Development Mayor Forum', November 22, 2010, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) commissioner Tian Lipu refuted allegations that China's high speed rail systems are based on plagiarism. See IP Dragon' article 'Knowledge Transfer in China: How To Train The Dragon To Consume You'...

IP Dragon 5 Years: Never A Dull Moment

Posted on November 28, 2010
Today it is exactly five years ago that I started with IP Dragon. Since its inception I got a lot of interesting feedback from readers. The readers are the very motivation for me to keep going with the blog. When I revisited IP Dragon's first blog post today, I saw that my mission at the time of informing non-Chinese companies has broadened to all companies, since most IPR in China disputes are between Chinese companies...

Copied Gun Manufacturer Starts Campaign Against Manufacturers of Copied Copied Guns

Posted on November 27, 2010
MadBull Airsoft launched Operation Copycat', a campaign against counterfeit and cloned airsoft (in between real and toy) guns, read here. "The enforcement of intellectual properties of gun manufacturers and gear makers in airsoft has been ongoing for sometime now...

In Honour of The Great Bruce Lee ???: Fight For Trademark Protection in China and U.S.

Posted on November 26, 2010
Today it is 70 years ago that the great Bruce Lee ? (Li=Lee)?(Xiao=little) ? (Long=dragon) to whom IP Dragon feels related in spirit, was born in San Francisco. He grew up in Hong Kong until his teens, then went back to the U.S. and became the biggest martial arts filmstar ever in both Hollywood and Hong Kong...

Knowledge Transfer in China: How To Train The Dragon To Consume You

Posted on November 26, 2010
Professor Pierre Sauvé, deputy managing director, director of studies and faculty member at the World Trade Institute (WTI), Switzerland gave a very interesting guest research lecture at CUHK November 24, 2010: "Waiting for Godot? The troubled prospects of (coherent) multilateralism in investment rule making"...

Trademark/Copyright Use or Abuse: Coca-Cola in Hong Kong

Posted on November 23, 2010
Do you think this use of the trademark should be allowed."Immoral to drink sweat and blood. Coca-Cola."Photo taken from the wall at Franklin Centre at CUHK Campus in Shatin, Hong Kong. It is in protest against alleged bad labour conditions at the Coca-Cola plant...

Taiwan Makes Priority Claims in Other Countries Possible In The Patent, Trademark and Plant Variety and Plant Seed Acts

Posted on November 23, 2010
Taiwan Intellectual Property Organization (TIPO) announced that the Presidential Office promulgated the amendments of some IPR laws on August 25, 2010, that makes priority claims possible in other countries. The amendments went into force on September 12, 2010...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.