First, if you think Chinese IP (not just copyright) laws are lax, come visit me and try to use the IP of a major Chinese company like, say, Huawei. Just let me keep a safe distance from you while you do it, OK?
Second, where they are “lax” is with specifically foreign IP: copyright or patent or whatever. And even there, if the foreign IP holder has significant presence in China they can come down on infringement like Huawei could. It’s just that foreign IP holders often have no such Chinese presence and are faced with an inability to fight IP infringement in China. You know, exactly like a small player in, say, Thailand being faced with her work being stolen and sold all over the USA might find. Or, even when the foreign entity has presence in the USA … well, shall we ask Samsung how they feel about US courts’ protection of their patents when Apple steals them? (Hint: it doesn’t go well if it’s a foreign company vs. an American one in an American court.)
Third, and most importantly, likely the source of a lot of trouble, is that Chinese IP law is, critically, very different from IP law in western countries. Baseline assumptions are different, for starters. If you come to China in matters that involve valuable IP and you don’t hire a lawyer intimately familiar with CHINESE IP law, you’re going to get fucked and rightly so. It’s pretty arrogant and colonial to assume that every other nation in the world must follow your rules on their own soil. (Consider how you’d react to a flip in this: a Chinese company going to your nation and expecting you to obey Chinese IP law to understand why the notion is ludicrous.)
Samsung vs. Apple leaps to mind. Apple gets protection on rounded rectangles. Samsung gets its patent on actual innovations in wireless designs invalidated … but only in the USA. (Courts elsewhere upheld Samsung’s patents.)
There are several things to unpack here.
First, if you think Chinese IP (not just copyright) laws are lax, come visit me and try to use the IP of a major Chinese company like, say, Huawei. Just let me keep a safe distance from you while you do it, OK?
Second, where they are “lax” is with specifically foreign IP: copyright or patent or whatever. And even there, if the foreign IP holder has significant presence in China they can come down on infringement like Huawei could. It’s just that foreign IP holders often have no such Chinese presence and are faced with an inability to fight IP infringement in China. You know, exactly like a small player in, say, Thailand being faced with her work being stolen and sold all over the USA might find. Or, even when the foreign entity has presence in the USA … well, shall we ask Samsung how they feel about US courts’ protection of their patents when Apple steals them? (Hint: it doesn’t go well if it’s a foreign company vs. an American one in an American court.)
Third, and most importantly, likely the source of a lot of trouble, is that Chinese IP law is, critically, very different from IP law in western countries. Baseline assumptions are different, for starters. If you come to China in matters that involve valuable IP and you don’t hire a lawyer intimately familiar with CHINESE IP law, you’re going to get fucked and rightly so. It’s pretty arrogant and colonial to assume that every other nation in the world must follow your rules on their own soil. (Consider how you’d react to a flip in this: a Chinese company going to your nation and expecting you to obey Chinese IP law to understand why the notion is ludicrous.)
Haha thanks for your insights!
Do you have an example of that?
Samsung vs. Apple leaps to mind. Apple gets protection on rounded rectangles. Samsung gets its patent on actual innovations in wireless designs invalidated … but only in the USA. (Courts elsewhere upheld Samsung’s patents.)