Okay, maybe not spectacular. But definitely real. An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, How a Plague on the Movie and Music Industries Became Their Chief Protector in China sums up the change happening with China IP protection and enforcement: Chinese search giant Baidu Inc. was once a scourge of Hollywood and the U.S. music
As a general rule, the creator of an original work (e.g., a song, movie, or video game) owns the copyright in that work. This is true in the United States and China, and in most every other country in the world. The main exception to the general rule is for “works for hire,” which are
My law firm’s international licensing lawyers have been writing a slew of China technology licensing agreements lately. These deals usually come to us as China licensing deals. Sometimes they come to us as putative joint ventures, but after we explain the difficulties and costs in doing a joint venture, our clients seek to restructure their
In Netflix finally finds a way into China, CNN’s Sherisse Pham explains how “six months after admitting defeat in its bid to crack China, Netflix has found a way to tap into the vast market.” For years, Netflix was trying to set itself up in China. For years, Netflix was trying to set itself up
Our China lawyers regularly receive inquiries from companies (and other lawyers) asking if an email they have received from China is legit. The email usually goes something like this: Dear [owner of US trademark]: According to our trademark research team, the following mark has been published in the Chinese Trademark Gazette on [date]. We note
1. There’s no way to protect my brand in China against counterfeits, so there’s no reason to try. This is both false and self-defeating. China offers a number of ways to protect your IP. The first and most important step is to file a trademark application in China to cover your goods or services. This
China’s copyright laws have been in line with the United States and the EU and other developed countries since China became a signatory to the Berne Convention in 1992 and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in 2001. But it’s hardly news that you can get a pirated copy of pretty
The Supreme People’s Court of China just gave Michael Jordan a partial victory in his long-running trademark battle with Qiaodan Sports. As I wrote last year, Jordan has been trying for years to cancel trademarks he alleges Qiaodan Sports registered in bad faith, including the marks “乔丹” (the Chinese-language version of “Jordan”) and “Qiaodan” (the
This post focus on two commonly held misconceptions regarding “partnering” with Chinese companies in deals that involve foreign technology. Due to a partnership relationship, the foreign side often wrongly believes it is somehow better protected against IP theft. The foreign side then lets down its guard, only to learn that its China partner has appropriated
The Wall Street Journal wrote how China is increasingly becoming the venue of choice for foreign company patent litigation. That's right. China.
