https://news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2019100714495530961
Money Today / Reporter JEONG Han-Kyeol
2019.10.09 08:00
Despite all the sanction, yet another counterfeit company is created… "China, There is regulation but no will to enforce”
Because of the Chinese counterfeits which are about 80% of all distributed counterfeits in the world, the small and medium sized companies are experience ever increasing damages.
On 6th Oct (local time), CNBC reported that “The discussion on intellectual property protection has been the centered around the large IT companies. Small and medium-sized companies are struggling with limited resources”.
In order to obtain patent protection in China, one must apply the relevant patent to the Chinese authorities. However, the damages are increasing because most of SME’s do not know the exact procedure, or postpone the registration due to cost problem.
There was a case that a patent registered in USA or Australia has been copied exactly in Chinese language and applied first in China. Ruth Bronx, an American who owns patents related to Violin, told CNBC that he registered 32 patents in USA using US$ 100,000, but someone else registered exact translated version of his patents in China. Bronx asked the Chinese court for invalidation of the copied patents, and it took several years.
However, as new kind of counterfeit continue to emerge; spending billions of dollars in attorney’s fee could not save the situation. Some of these counterfeits are even uploaded at Amazon or eBay, on websites outside China. Bronx stated that “If you catch one, another counterfeit pops up. It is like moles”. He also complained, “Now there is no room for investment since I spent too much money for attorney’s fee”.
According to OECD, as of 2016, 80% of all seized counterfeits worldwide were from China or Hong Kong. In the US, 87% of all seized counterfeits last year were also from China or Hong Kong. In April, the US government strongly warned e-commerce companies such as Amazon, eBay and Alibaba that they will be regulated heavily if such fake problem is not solved. Even in trade negotiation, the US mentions the intellectual property problem all the time to pressure China.
The experts criticize Chinese authorities for not enforcing the intellectual property infringement even though they have the regulations. Mr. Fred Locarport of Harris Briken, an international law firm, stated that “China has signed an international agreement on intellectual property right and the domestic legal system is at an appropriate level. The system is adequate, but each local government is not motivated at all”.
The situation is improving as Mr. Xi Jingping, The China’s head of state recently said that he would solve the problem of intellectual property rights in china but CNBC also stated that it is still insufficient. CNBC said that “to protect patents, we have to work with Chinese officials. It means that one must do the investigation on the counterfeiting company by itself. It is not only time-consuming, but it must endure a tedious and expensive process”.
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