IP law enforcement in China

I read Mr. Mertha's report on IP right enforcement in China today, and do agree that China has still far from effective in IPP regime vs. Western Standard. I saw Mr. Mertha's endeavor in presenting a picture to westerners who are interesting in IP development is a quite neutral effort, from his academic background. Indeed, being working in China for many years, I saw there are many areas in government operation requiring further improvement. On the other hand, I also believe that, when accepting China to the global business community for a mutual benefit consideration, many people at the same time have bias towards China's progress in law enforcement. China is still finding her way of absorbing the best from western and mixing with her unique way of handling legal development, taking into account of her current economic, culture and social factors. The best thing we can do is patiently providing our advices to people in China, by all means, to improve as much as they can in rules and law.

Edison Chan's Case In Hong Kong

The story.....

He has had sexual relationship with various actresses, singers and girls from entertaintment circle here, as shown in the photographs circulated, but he really is the copyright owner of these photos, and if you really want to profit from these stuff, you have to wait for 50 years after the death of the owner( from the end of the calendar year in which the owner dies, according to copyright law in HK), can you wait?

He has the right to sue anyone who has downloaded, stored and disseminated the photographs owned by him, so assume you have done all the things mentioned, he will chase after you from now on until 50 years plus..... are you scarred? try to look at the definitions in the law......

How many laws relating to this case?
Answer: three, a) Copyright law; b) personal data privacy law and c) control of indecent and obscene articles ordiance, I will try to find out more about the details of those law later...

What we can learn from this case, as an ordinary citizen and as men who are handsome, charming and rich: Never send your laptop for fixing if it is crashed, who knows you may store some photos or files in the harddisk, consciously or unconsciously, proving that you are actually not the one as you look like in day time.........

Unfair competition law in Hong Kong

China has promulgated its anti-unfair competition law, but we don't have a widely covered law in this area except we have industry specific law covering telecom and broadcasting industries. Recently there are a lot of louder voice on media talking about some supermarkets may utilize their dominated position in retail segment, showing they offer cheapest prices of their commodities, but actually they are not when comparing with the ones from small grocery stories.

This is really a alarming signal to general public, that we may be suffered from the unfair competition market here. Although the Government is trying her best to have a more better law in this area, but so far the progress is slow, and so ad hoc basis. In January 2008's Asia Law, there are voice saying that it is unlikely that the Government will initiate more comprehensive competition law in the near future, probably because of the resisted voice from big figures from commercial sectors.

China has allowed HK to maintain existing law system, so that we have one country, two system for 50 years unchanged. I hope the guys here don't misinterpret it and try to keep the unfair law system in HK untouched for another 50 years.

Intellectual Property Protection System in China- a snapshot

Currently in China there is a so called "dual" system to protect the intellectual property (IP) rights in China, one is the judicial system, that the plaintiff can initiate civil law claims through intermediate level courts in designated cities; but the administrative system, such as SAIC, can also initiate quasi-judicial action against parties who violate the trademark law in China.

It is said that administrative system will be more efficient in handling IP cases, though so far I cannot see solid figures and reports telling that it is true, and also is it effective in doing so?

China has joined several prominent international treaties relating to IP, including TRIPS, and I definitely think that China has gradually improved the existing domestic civil law system, by modifying the rules and regulations, which are normally promulgated by State Council, the Supreme Court. I also believe that they will send more legal professional practitioners, including judges, to be well trained in international law, relating to trade business. So let's say 5 or 10 years later, foreign investors could be more assured that their IP rights will be well protected than today.