You could always claim Chinese citizenship because we all know China seems to be immune to any copyright rules.

Allan

Quote from: Bikeracer on February 27, 2013, 08:44:17 AM
You could always claim Chinese citizenship because we all know China seems to be immune to any copyright rules.

Allan

China has very clear copyright laws. The idea that China has no copyright laws is a Western myth. It has a much more balanced set of copyright laws - and some serious *enforcement* problems. On enforcement the same is true in the UK, and even more so in many parts of the EU.

Enforcement is a hard problem even with physical objects - the UK never managed to do anything about the bloke with the suitcase full of fake rolexes either.

Alan

I should have said immune to anyone elses copyright laws,they're even producing counterfeit medical tablets.....that is a real worry.

Allan

Quote from: Bikeracer on February 27, 2013, 12:29:36 PM
I should have said immune to anyone elses copyright laws,they're even producing counterfeit medical tablets.....that is a real worry.

Allan

Thats also a Western myth.

Lots of countries produce their own non-branded medical products. Thats patent not copyright law and the laws vary by country so many drugs are only restricted in the USA, or in USA/Europe. A lot of countries have rather stricter rules on patents and drugs - they happen to think that people not dying is more important than profits.

The US situation is so bad that people now routinely "smuggle" drugs from Canada into the USA.

Alan

There is actually one country that can legally ignore copyright laws (US ones anyway).

http://www.worldipreview.com/news/wto-gives-antigua-go-ahead-to-suspend-us-copyright

Because the WTO ruled that the US ban on internet gambling was illegal and it badly damaged Antigua's booming online gambling industry, the WTO eventually gave Antigua the right to completely ignore all US copyright as the US wouldn't respond to sanctions or any legal action against their ban.

Next time you buy any branded goods how can you be certain that you don't have a copy that was made in China ?

Allan

Quote from: Bikeracer on February 27, 2013, 01:15:22 PM
Next time you buy any branded goods how can you be certain that you don't have a copy that was made in China ?

Allan

It depends on the brand. Some brands only sell through their own or authorised stores, which generally eliminates clones. Also a bit of common sense will help. If it's half the RRP and being sold on a market stall, it's probably knockoff.

Some years ago, I was dealing with a toy importer who purchased his toys, carrying a famous brand name, in Hong Kong. The toys had some serious safety faults, and investigations showed that, although in genuine boxes, the toys did not meet the brand owners spec. It turned out that the toys were made by the Hong Kong subcontractor to the brand owner and, having completed the contracted number of toys, used spare boxes and materials to manufacture extras to sell off themselves. Unfortunately, they failed to roll sharp edges and used toxic paint. Needless to say, the factory lost the contract with the brand owner, and the importer got hammered in court, as he made no checks himself. The factory owners were also sued by the brand owner, for breach of copyright.

Quote from: Bikeracer on February 27, 2013, 01:15:22 PM
Next time you buy any branded goods how can you be certain that you don't have a copy that was made in China ?

Allan

Or Peckham ? Most perfume faking for example is done locally - it costs far too much to ship from China.

It's not a China problem - but a general one. In the UK trading standards try and go after stuff but they like the police don't have the funding to go after anything that isn't dangerous or large scale.

Some products have hard to clone stuff on them. Fake batteries can be particularly dangerous and a lot of mobile phone batteries have holograms on them. I've been in the room with a laptop that suffered a battery explosion and caused a fire. It's not a experience I ever want to repeat.

Some of the direct cheap from China/Hong Kong Bachmann N Gauge stuff that appears on ebay does make me wonder quite how it ended up in Hong Kong at very cheap prices.

Alan