Mobile/PDA About Us Advertise here


		User name	Password

		Not registered yet? Register here. Lost your password? Click here.

Browse by topic

News

China's IP policies not as far from the west as you may think

2 September 2007 12:24 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 3 comments

While politicians trade attacks on Chinese copyright enforcement for political capital with lobbiests, they seem to miss the closest parallel to China's current IP enforcement issues - 19th century United States.

Last month, US Representative Frank Wolf publicly attacked China, saying that the United States "must be vigilant about protecting the values we hold dear" in the face of China's depredations.

However, if anyone wonders what motivates Chinese business men and government officials they need look no further than the United States of the 19th century. At that time the US wasn't a dominant trading power, and many companies relied on outright piracy of the intellectual property of European companies.

At that time, business regulation was a haphazard affair consisting primarily of state and local laws. Enforcement of trade related laws was all but impossible in some areas.

America's counterfeit goods industry was so prolific it prompted one newspaper at the time to print "We have 'Paris hats' made in New York, 'London Gin' and 'London Porter' that never was in a ship's hold, 'Superfine French paper' made in Massachusetts."

If the Chinese intend to participate in the global economy, and by all indications that's exactly what they want, they'll eventually need to find a place in the IP landscape. The question is whether, like the US before them, they'll be forced to fall into line with regard to intellectual property laws, or whether they'll have some voice in reforming what many westerners see as an increasingly anachronistic system.

Source: The Boston Globe

Permalink to this article

China asks for international help in controlling online piracy (17 January 2008)

Paramount will sell $3 DVDs to combat Chinese pirates (7 November 2007)

Chinese official estimates 3-5 generations to clean up IP enforcement (19 October 2007)

Study highlights economic importance of fair use in the US (14 September 2007)

« Previous news article
1 in 4 Los Angeles residents getting pirated material

Next news article »
DivX signs deal with D-Link for DivX connected device

Post your comment

Discuss this article!
Moomoo2 (Member) 2 September 2007 22:22
This is a bit of a stretch, honestly... [ + quote]
Unfocused (Member) 4 September 2007 6:09
All they are trying to do is make a buck... The article brings forth a good point though, with little or no incentive to battle bootlegging, why should anybody invest the time in trying to stop it? [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 10 September 2007 14:49
If this is to be believed then the US shot themself in the foot. [ + quote]