Best IP Protection is Through Education, Not More Enforcement Actions
Introduction
It is beyond dispute that China has some of the most comprehensive and up-to-date Intellectual Property (IP) protection laws of any country in the modern world, in conformance with its accession to the Berne Convention and the Geneva Convention.1 This is a direct result of China’s serious fourteen-year pursuit of World Trade Organization membership and compliance with its WTO obligations.2
On October 27, 2001, China promulgated the amendment to its PRC, Copyright Law of 1990 (the Copyright Law). The amendment came into effect upon its promulgation. The purpose of this amendment was to bring China’s copyright protection to full compliance with relevant international conventions. It seems more than coincidental that the amendment was promulgated one week before China signed its WTO accession documents; the amendment was issued in all likelihood to prove that China is making efforts to honour its WTO commitments.”3
China acknowledges that its own IT sector is retarded due to lack of transfer of foreign technology and lack of foreign investment, both caused by lack of foreigners’ belief in IP protection in China.4 China has ratcheted up IP enforcement with record numbers of prosecutions in all provinces and semi-autonomous regions, because China sees this as being in its own economic best interests. Yet, organizations like AmCham assert that while such enforcement actions are laudable, they fall far short and suggest that the situation is getting worse, not better.5 The Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce asserts, “Aggressive enforcement of intellectual property rights will benefit both consumers and businesses. Encouraging the enforcement of IPR rights will allow U.S. companies to reap the benefits of their investments, and will also encourage additional businesses, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, to participate in the global marketplace.”6
This myopic world-view taken from a “business only” perspective ignores the most fundamental principles of Globalization, cultural diversity appreciation and understanding. For five thousand years the Chinese have had no concept of private intellectual property rights. Under the Emperor Dynasties and more recently the Socialist Economic System, the government owns all real and personal property, including celebrity endorsements.7
1.3 billion people cannot be expected to embrace such a foreign concept over night. IP protection is brand new (last 20 years) and the basic change in recognizing private ownership of IP is hard to teach and hard to accept. Only 53 percent of the people even speak Mandarin8 and more than 8.72 percent are illiterate.9 That is one-hundred thirteen million illiterates in China. An entire society needs to be taught about the value of private ownership of intellectual property. This educational process must begin at China’s universities where libraries allow and even encourage wholesale copying of entire books.
Under the socialist economic system the government owned the books (copyrights were non-existent) and the people are the government. So, the people copy what they already own and thus are not stealing anything from anyone. This practice continues to this day. Chinese libraries still allow this practice to continue unabated without even a cursory check to see if the book has an ISBN number.The Chinese universities are the Research and Development labs for China and yet 75 percent of them fail to patent their own inventions.10 India is as adept at copying China’s non-patented pharmaceuticals as China is at copying America’s copyrighted DVDs.11
Chinese people understand that it is wrong to steal tangible goods but there is no concept that taking IP without compensation is wrong. Intangible thoughts and ideas have no reality as something that is subject to theft, even when they are reduced to a writing or artwork. On any given day, in any given Chinese bookstore, there are more people sitting on the bare floor stealing IP (reading books for free) than patrons in the local library. Even the bookstores encourage IP theft. There are no signs prohibiting free reading and no enforcement of such a “foreign” idea. The people know that they cannot take the book out of the store without paying for it, but they do not understand that their act of reading it without compensation also constitutes a theft. A major Shanghai university teaches IP protection using a Prentice Hall book, copied in violation of the copyright laws. This university has a teacher stand in front of the class and teach that it is wrong to steal IP while teaching from a stolen textbook. This is hypocritical and sends the wrong message to the students who are the next generation of business and government leaders. The universities must teach, not just preach, IP protection and they must implement what they teach. China’s universities are teaching the next generation of political and business leaders, as well as the next generation of teachers. Education is the fundamental key to change, not enhanced enforcement actions.
Increasing IP enforcement actions tenfold will not accomplish the desired transformation of Chinese thinking and attitude towards IP ownership and protection. This can only be accomplished through proper education, not hypocritical half-hearted educational efforts. It is no easy task to bring such fundamental change to the thinking of 1.3 billion Chinese people. It requires a psychological revolution of unprecedented proportions to create a new ethos where none has existed before. Enforcement actions undoubtedly have an effect on those successfully prosecuted but to assume a deterrent effect that will sweep throughout China’s society is to continue to believe that capital punishment deters murder or other serious crimes.
- Chen Chao (2001). China Amends Copyright Law, Retrieved from http://www.china.org.cn/english/2001/Nov/22246.htm ↩
- Olson, E. (2001). WTO Sets Date to Discuss China’s Entry, New York Times November 14, 2000. Retrieved from http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/bwi-wto/wto/2000/1114eo.htm ↩
- Wang, V, and Cai, R. (2001). New Changes to Copyright Protection in China Retrieved from http://www.dwt.com/practc/sha_chi/bulletins/10-01_copyright.htm ↩
- China Daily (2004). Piracy still plagues China’s IT industry. Retrieved from http://english.people.com.cn/200406/30/eng20040630_148091.html ↩
- American Chamber of Commerce (2004). White Paper – Intellectual Property Rights. Retrieved from http://www.amcham-china.org.cn/amcham/show/content.php?Id=332 ↩
- Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce (2005). Intellectual property Rights – Position Paper. Retrieved fromhttp://www.apcac.org/?id=47 ↩
- Falk, J. (2005). Yao Ming vs. Coca Cola. A Professional Athlete’s Right to Publicity in China. Retrieved fromhttp://www.iln.com/2004_newsletter/may/na_epstein _becker.htm ↩
- People’s Daily On Line (2005). Greater numbers speak Mandarin. Retrieved from http://english.people.com.cn/200412/27/eng20041227_168739.html ↩
- People’s Daily On Line (2005). Illiteracy Rate Among Adult People in China Slashed http://english.people.com.cn/200412/27/eng20041227_168739.html ↩
- China Education and Research Network. (2005). 75% of Chinese Universities Need Patent Application. Retrieved fromhttp://www.edu.cn/20050617/3141159.shtml ↩
- Taipei Times (2004). India accedes to pressure over generic drugs. Retrieved from http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2004/12/27/2003216955 ↩
EDITOR’S NOTE:
THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR MAY OR MAY NOT SELL THE COPYRIGHT. THE PUBLISHER MAY OR MAY NOT BUT THE COPYRIGHT. THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT MODELS. YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY IS INCOMPLETE AND YOUR CONCLUSIONS ERRONEOUS.
I HAVE PUBLISHED 34 ARTICLES AND 5 BOOKS ABROAD. I OWN THE COPYRIGHT TO EVERYTHING.
NOW I AM PUBLISHING THE HOLISTIC ENGLISH WORKBOOK IN CHINA AND I HAD THREE OPTIONS OFFERED TO ME. I WILL STILL OWN THE COPYRIGHT UNDER TWO OF THE THREE.
There is a question. Who is major under the IP protection? Normally it should be the original author. But acturelly it is the publisher who always bought the right form the author. So I think IP protection is a question based on business profit.
I do recognize that IP protection is important both for the author and the business group. And I do realize that China haven’t dealt with it well. While,let’s have aother look. Should knowledge be widely spreaded freely? Such as Microsoft. We all know that Micsoft has numerous software IP protection problems. But they seemed it as a spreading way and didn’t prevent. The most success is that they still made large money. Might the other business group who arguing for IP protection loudly think over it.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
ONCE YOU READ A BOOK, WHY BUY IT? WILL YOU READ IT AGAIN? NOT LIKELY UNLESS IT IS A REFERENCE BOOK.
Our country has her own culture. As mentioned in the article ,it is no easy to bring such a fundament change to the 1.3 billion Chinese people. After reading this text, I feel unbelievable of that reading book free in bookstore is stealing IP.I read books in the book store since middle school as others do, it is so normal because library is not convenient for people. If someone says it is IP theft, I think most Chinese will surprised and ask “if i don’t read it, why should i buy it”. It is a very, very long time to create such a new ethos in our country. But there is a real change in the protect of Intellectual Property in China.
IP protection is serious problem in China. I agree that we should solve this problem through education. In China too many people haven`t realize that taking things from others without permission is illegal. Nowadays many people download software, songs and movies for free from Internet. This action cause huge loss of the inventor. I saw a game company closed down by too much piracy. What a pity! On the other hand, our government should perfect the law to beat the illegal behavior. But we should realize that this problem is deep and serious. Please keep patient to solve it for a long time.
IP protection is a new concept for us. At the beginning, people give little attention to it. I think the law of IP protection is beyond people’s understanding and enforcement is the first and important means to control the increasing IP stealing. At the same time, the government and media are both publicizing IP protection. This is for the entire society. Besides, teachers and students in universities pay more and more attention about IP protection and realize how serious the problem is. We understand it’s a crime to plagiarize others’ science paper or idea with patent. So I think we do have to acknowledge we have ever done wrong to be against IP protection and we would try to support it.
Piracy is very common in China. Well, I can not agree with the article any more. Frankly speaking, when I was young, I have bought many pirate books. At that time, we didn’t think there was any problem. On the contrary, because of low-priced, we all preferred them to the genuine ones. Actually, we have no idea about Intellectual property protection. Although our country have promulgated the amendment to the Copyright Law and paid more attention on the problem, you know, habit is a terrible thing. So the best IP protection is through proper education. If people were taught about the value of IP when they were children, they would protect it subconsciously. Our teachers were also the key to teach. They should be aware of IP. If we all have the same opinion about the value of IP, then I believe that we could change the thinking of 1.3 billion Chinese people radically.
Our dear professor Martin always likes to bring some profound issues that we are easy to overlook, leading us to face up to and think of. I do agree the point that “best IP Protection is through education, not more enforcement actions”. There is much phenomenon around us shock me. Such as we can buy a pirated CD/DVD and also copy the book which we borrow from other else. We also install pirated software just because we can’t afford it, besides we can download lots of software from internet in free charge. But we all know that it isn’t good for the companies and the society improvement. It’s our duty to do something to change this!
The Chinese government believes that IP protection system is greatly important for the advancement of scientific technology, the prosperity of culture and the development of economy. It is not only an important system to ensure the normal operation of the socialist market economy, but also one of the basic conditions to carry out international commutation and cooperation of scientific technology, culture and economy. Thus, the construction of IP protection system of China is highly valued.
I think many of us doesn’t truly understand the IP protection well before. After reading the thread, I am a little shocked. All of us lack the education of IP Protection. Most of us have the experience of copying others book without permission. I know that such way is bad and totally unacceptable now.
We may think in this way, if it is our own book or idea is stolen without permission or without paid, what will ourselves feel? Next time when we want to copy a book, think twice!
Yes, Intellectual Protection is a problem in China, and education about that should really be enhanced. We a not very modern free market people,however,which means not only intellectual property, but any kind of property rights are not fully respected. In this country, power can reach its hand beyond laws’ control, and property of common people is not always well protected by justice system.
I used to think that IP protection is just for commercial products. But no one told me about it. Maybe that is just the lack of Education. Not long ago, I made out the exact meaning of Intellectual Property from the wetsite of The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. It includes two categories: Industrial property and Copyright. So that is what most Chinese still don’t know.
Frankly speaking, it’s hard for us to obey the IP protection law entirely because of the economic condition of our country, for example the software. But I believe it will be better later on.
When I saw the title IP first, I thought it was Internet Protocol. I was thinking why our teacher told us to read this. Then I read the article, I knew I was wrong. IP is Intellectual Property. The mistake I made also impact that Intellectual Property is not deeply in my mind. That is true. I have a little idea about the IP. But I know IP is a more and more important problem in china. There was little person told me about IP, until I come to be a post graduate. That is too late, our teachers have the duty to told and educate us. I agree with the idea about “Best IP Protection is Through Education”.
I am agree with the saying “education is the fundamental key to change”. In university, students were told that plagiarism was wrong and who stole IP will be punished. Most of us have the concept and will not do the immoral thing. But I realized that we quite not understand IP protection when I read that reading book for free in the bookstore is also stealing IP. I was shocked. No one told us it was wrong in China. It is important to found the right thinking of IP protection.
I admit that people in China care much less for the IP protection than western country. In China, you can see piracy everywhere: software, free mp3, copied textbook, etc. In one hand, I agree with the article that we need IP protection education; What’s more, let us see how the phenomenon is rising. For example, in the Apple store, you can get a song in MP3 format with about 1 dollar, which means you can get a complete album with about $10. In American, ten dollars may be just a meal, while in China you can have ten meals. I mean, who will buy a full album with ten meals’ price while the free album is available and not illegal? Same things happened to our textbook, software, movie and so on. Most Chinese can tell the difference between legal copy and privacy, and they are willing to use the legal copy so long as they can afford it (When Microsoft down-regulated their Windows 7 price in China, I bought a legal copy). It is government’s duty to accelerate the import of product (both physical and electrical) and set up a proper price for Chinese
I can not agree more with the saying “Best IP protection is through education, not more enforcement action”. We chinese, especially university students who have received high education and may know more knowledge than that who have not go to university, should not been adjusted by forced measurement. We should have the conscience that plagiarism is illeagel. If we stole IP from others, we are threating ourselves! We should be responsible for ourselves!
EDITOR’S NOTE:
IF WE START WITH THE COLLEGE STUDENTS THEY ARE THE NEXT GENERATION OF PARENTS. THE PARENTS WILL THEN INSTILL IP KNOWLEDGE IN THEIR BABIES AND THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM WILL NOT BE BURDENED.
Yes, you are right. Because “under the Emperor Dynasties and more recently the Socialist Economic System, the government owns all real and personal property, including celebrity endorsements”, Chinese people have not clear concept of IP protection. It is really a brand new concept to most Chinese people. So it is impossible for Chinese people to embrace this concept over night.
I agree with you on your opinion that “Education is fundamental key to change, not enhanced enforcement actions”, too. However, I think the IP protection education should be started from primary schools, but not from universities. That is too late. A person forms his/her belief early in his/her life. So if we want a person to own the concept of IP protection, we’d better start when he or she is a little boy or girl.
In the past several decades, we can see China’s legal system for IP protection gradually established. But we have to admit there are still a lot of problems which need us to pay more attention to and quickly deal with. I deeply agree with Mr. Martin’s advisement in this paper–“best IP Protection is through education, not more enforcement actions”. We should change public perceptions, and fundamentally put an end to piracy.
For a long time, we have been told by the government that IP protection is very important. But ignoring the notice, we still use the pirated software and books. However, I also find some good changes in China. Ten years ago, we did use Windows, but they almost were pirated, because Windows was so high in price for Chinese people. Right now, thanks to the development of China, we can afford it. So, you can see, many governments’ offices and even the individual person use genuine Windows. So, I feel happy when I find we can take IP protection seriously in the end.
I couldn’t agree more with the opinion “Best IP protection is through education, not more enforcement actions.” As the article says, Chinese people understand that it is wrong to steal tangible goods but there is no concept that taking IP without compensation is wrong. So the essential problem is not the virtue, morality or law. But it’s the ideology. After many years’ seclusion of the outside world, the concept of Chinese people fell behind. And the inherent concept is hard to change. But as I see, the situation has changed for the new generation. We all know the importance of IP protection now. For example, we will apply for patent after any significant research result coming out.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
I HAVE ALLOWED THIS POST BECAUSE IT IS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF HOW PASSING cet DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN READ AND UNDERSTAND ENGLISH. THE AUTHOR HAS CONFUSED MANY ISSUES, MISSTATED THE CORRECT LAW OF CHINA, AND DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE SOCIALIST ECONOMIC SYSTEM AND ITS EFFECT ON CURRENT IP PROTECTION ATTITUDES.
If you had read something about resource publishers, you should know most of the foreign movies/TV series/ software were first published outside China, and then republished in China, usually in a P2P transport way. For example, bittorrent and emule. According to their words, some of them think all the resource should be free, and some just to show off their wonderful cracking skills. But none the less, they are against the law, and their deeds ruin the benefits and rights of the owner of the properties.
It’s actually a global problem. I don’t want to deny that Chinese are used to use the illegal copies. But I can’t agree with some of your views.
1. Lots of Chinese people don’t speak Mandarin, and there are also a lot of illiterates in China. Then they should be educated, for what? For cherishing the value of private ownership of intellectual property?
I agree that the government should do something to make Mandarin more common in China, and push harder on education to eliminate the illiterates.
But, speaking Mandarin or not speaking Mandarin, illiterates or not illiterates, there is no positive connection in this case. EDITOR’S NOTE: YOU HAVE COMPLETELY MISSED THE POINT. EVERYONE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE NEWSPAPERS , TV OR OTHER MEDIA SO UNLESS THERE IS A COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR IP PROTECTION, WE CANNOT EXPECT EVERYONE TO JUST KNOW SOMETHING FROM COMMON INFORMATION SOURCES.
(Plus, I believe they use less illegal copies than those who speaking Mandarin and those who are not illiterates. It’s not discrimination. Think of it, if an illiterate can read an illegal copy of a book, how can he be an illiterate?) EDITOR’S NOTE: YOU ARE CONFUSING TWO SEPARATE ISSUES.
2. “Under the socialist economic system the government owned the books” …
The socialism society relies on a prosperous material and psychological basis, which is not practical now in China. And that’s why we are using a socialist economic system with a market economy.
The “sharing” of illegal copies is not caused by the socialist economic system, but the weak sense of protecting the copyright, both for other and for ourselves. EDITOR’S NOTE: ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT. THERE IS NO IP UNDER THE SOCIALIST ECONOMIC SYSTEM, NEVER WAS AND NEVER WILL BE.
3. Reading a book without buying it is stealing.
It’s kind of stealing, but we did it from long long time ago. In China, you can’t tell whether it’s right or wrong, at least, it’s not against the law. For me, if the book is really good or useful, I will buy it. EDITOR’S NOTE: ABSOLUTELY WRONG. IT IS CLEARLY A VIOLATION OF CHINA’S CURRENT LAW.
4. “Best IP Protection is Through Education, Not More Enforcement Actions”
I agree 80% with this.
In some of the western countries, they are running a more severe enforcement actions, you might go to jail for using an illegal copy of Windows. And there are relatively less complains about copyright issues than it in China. So why shouldn’t we put more enforcement actions to fix this problem? Because just like what you are trying to say, and rightly so, the phenomenon is so common in China. You can’t put all of them into prison. They should be taught to think more about the copyright. EDITOR’S NOTE: IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE NUMBER OF THIEVES. IT IS ALL ABOUT JUSTICE. IT IS SIMPLY NOT JUST TO PUT SOMEONE IN PRISON FOR VIOLATING A LAW THEY DO NOT EVEN UNDERSTAND.
But I think you have neglected one of the root causes, that is the money. Aside from the bad habit, can the Chinese afford a thousand RMB priced software when the average incoming of Chinese family only a few thousands per year. Although the companies like Microsoft has noticed this, and is reducing the price of its products, can this habit be changed when you can still get a free illegal copy from the internet? A lot of things need to be done to fix this problem. EDITOR’S NOTE: CAN HUNGRY PEOPLE STEAL FOOD BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO MONEY? IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY JUSTIFICATION TO STEAL IT.
EDITOR’S QUESTION: DID YOU REALLY PASS CET?
As we all know, IP Protection in China has many problems. Many people have no notions about it and do not put it into consideration. Take copyright protection and patent protection as an example; because many people’s ignoring, many authors and inventors suffer great losses, this will be weaker against their enthusiasm. So we must pay more attention to the IP Protection. And in my opinion, both education and enforcement actions are important. Education can teach people how important the IP Protection is and I think it is very important to teach it since childhood. Also enforcement actions can restrict people not to do things against the IP Protection.
In the last few years, people paid more attention the the IP protection questions, and some law about these questions have established step by step in China. But we must accept that fact that many things remind to deal with it.In my opinion, the first thing to do is improve the people’s education. Secondly, We still should have specific laws and punishments to enforce people to obey to the moral and legal obligation.
Before reading this article, I know that intellectual property protection in China is a very serious problem, because around us is full of so much pirated goods ,Books, CDs, clothing, and so on. Although there are many IP protection laws in China, but little people concerned about them, and few people actually implement these laws.
This article let me understand the IP protection from the perspective of a foreigner and is the first time. To my knowledge, rights of intellectual property protection abroad are strict, but shocked me the most is that reading books for free in the bookstore is defined as stealing IP. Other hand, our country, what we have done is so bad.
I agree with the article said that education is the fundamental key to IP protection. Although we have received educational of IP in the school, but too little, and in the wrong way, so we did not generate the correct awareness of IP and IP protection, and no strong desire to protect intellectual property.
Intellectual Property protection becomes more and more important thing coupleing with the pluralistic economy development. It’s no doubt that china has copied many America’s medical IP in former days. But, at that time, many aspects of our country are still behindhand. Perhaps, that is pardonable! But, now we have the ability to complete with other country in many regions publicly. We needn’t steel! However ,copy things are very common such as DVD, books, clothes design and songs. If we are immersed in bad culture environment for long time, we have been adapted to those things. That is the part reason for Chinese people to have weak consciousness of IP laws. Besides,the servility of Chinese also contributes to it. So, it is huge assignment to enhance IP conception in China .Perhaps, some institution like universities need do some improvement.
In my opinion, the low of IP protection is need for us. It is a basis and foundation in lawsuits, which makes it legal. But is it the only way that depending on lows? I don’t think so.
If we can do some work that protecting the intellectual property. And we could enhance our consciousness of not letting our intellectual property uncovered at other people. But is it feasible？ Maybe.
It is hard to protect intellectual property in China, because there are so many people in China, and the history of IP protection in china is too short, comparing with the 5000 years long history of China.
1.I think the government should make a great effort to bring the law into strong enforcement. If nothing will be done to punish those who violate the law, people will be more and more unscrupulous when they infringe on the intellectual property of others.
2.Enhance the awareness for IP protection, especially in school education, making the next generation of Chinese people can complete the establishment of IP protection awareness.
I think the situation will be better with the time pass.
I really agree with the concept that IP protection problem is serious in China. Always we think it common to download some free sources directly from internet, we didn’t pay attention to this problem because we didn’t be told this is not right. So such education is necessary here.
I agree that best IP protection is through education, not more enforcement actions.Nowadays many people are eager to success and get money and reputation in an easy way,but most of them are not creative enough to invent or bring forth something new which take a lot of time and great efforts,so some may choose to make a risk for what they dream.So we can see more enforcement actions can’t work very well because of still growing crimes.People must be educated anywhere and anytime with the harms of doing that and make sure that they realize it completely.
If a company can develop well, it must have Clear property rights. In the past thirty years, our state-owned enterprise reform is making effort to get it. Intellectual property protection is of great importance which can encourage more enterprise create and make more contribution to economic development. If IP protection fails, company will lose confidence to create and professor will lost interest to research. So we must protect IP in the long run.
However, infringement of intellectual property often happens in our life. How to think about it? And how to do ? Firstly, we should be objective to see it and don’t lose heart to it. Japan’s IP do well now, however, at the beginning of its economic development, you can see infringement of IP in many industries. At last, IP protection become well. Education takes great role in the process. Basic education should pay more attention to IP, and make student form a concept of IP protect. With more legislation of IP protection and economic development, I am sure that Chinese IP protection will also do well in the future.
Best IP protection
It is true that Chinese people have the ideology of IP protection, because it is ordinary things that everyone can download the software, songs, films and so on from the internet, owing to everyone doing it, so there isn’t no problem and it is so common that nobody consider the inventors and the IP protections ,thus they have no the consciousness.
The problem has existed for a long time, we should make our spare no time to change it even it has a little effect on someone if we try to protect IP of the inventors and the business companies, I can’t agree with Martin more, now that people are lack of the consciousness of IP protection even if they don’t want to encroach the right of the inventors and the business companies, but they do, thus we should improve the ideology of IP protection in the way of eduction, though there is a long way to go, and it is hard to change it , I believe it comes truth. It just the problem of the time. Because everyone is good.
I think law is prior than education when talking about IP protection. China has many defects in its law system and improving this system is just China’s effort in the recent years. In my concept, IP is offended when it relates to business activities and purpose, thus when it comes to business, law will do much more in defending IP.
Spreading IP protection idea in our current education system is, in my opinion, too ideal for us to realize. When something must realize under the process of education, it will take a long long time, even several generations.
Additionally, I want to thank those who have noticed these problems of China. We will learn and correct it.
IP protection is a big problem in china now. First, most people do not have the idea of protecting his or her personal IP. Second, most people stolen others’ IP without any tort obligation and also saw that as a right thing. I think it’s a practice problem to most of the Chinese. Because there are too many free things which are most of the people needed in china. And the merchant would also product more copied book in lower costs which is cheaper and more popular to the consumer too. At least, the consciousness of IP protection is not strong in people’s opinions now. You must know that the concept of IP protection is a new one to this generation most of which is 30’S to 70’S. It’s difficult to change their minds about the stolen IP, as a result of the difficult old days in the past year. Just as what martin said “Education is the fundamental key to change”. Enforcement action could not solve the real problems of IP protection. The hope of the IP protection is in the next generation. What we need is the auto IP protection, but not the enforcing one.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
KEEP READING FOR FREE AND SOMEDAY MAYBE I WILL HAVE TO VISIT YOU IN PRISON.
It is right that IP protection is slighting by people in China. I agree that the way to protect IP through education is better than through enforcement actions. In China, people do not attach importance to Intellectual Property has its history reason. But now there is a strong voice in society which is to die out pirate. But to establish the intellectual property rights, the burden is heavy and the road is long. Firstly, let people know and accept the concept of intellectual property, understand it absolutely. The best method is to improve everyone’s culture diathesis. And the fast way is beginning from universities.
But I could not accept that reading book for free in bookstore is a kind of theft. I had read books free in a lot of bookstore more than one. I do not think it is stealing.
It is a quite commonly phenomenon in China now and you can see pirated CDs and books everywhere, not mention the widespread infringement of copyright in the net. Chinese are very used to buy these pirated products even if they know it’s illegal but giving up in the temptation of much cheaper price.
Though protected by law, IP protection has not strike root in the heart of Chinese, and people would just take it for granted because everyone is doing so. There’s a saying goes, well feed, well breed. Maybe Chinese still needs time and effort to improve in many aspects.
In china, people pay less attention to their Intellectual Properties. And just from the last century the Intellectual Property Law have been sent in China. So compared with people in the foreign countries we really know little about our Intellectual Property Right. Even when we realize our Intellectual Property Right has been violated, we have no choice but to give up because we also don’t know how to protect our rights. Just for the reason, the phenomenon of violating the rights of people or companies is very common in China. As we know we are living in a developing country, the security system is not perfect. Thus it will be a long way for the government to go to complete the law system of our country. I believe we will live in a much more melodic society in the near year.
Through education to protect IP is good idea.If a person have lots of knowledge,he/she can know the important of IP which can protect the benefits of authors or inventors who can promote social progress.Of course they also know achievements that need lots of time and energy for people are very difficult to get.They respect the good results of others.
Though it’s a good method, IP protection needs some enforcement actions too.In china there are many impoverished persons,they have no money to buy so many legal copy things.That’s why so many pirated edition things existed in the social.So some moderated enforcement actions can lead poor customers to do the right things.
I feel so ashamed when I heard there is a saying that China is just a copycat country. We have to commit that Intellectual Property is indeed a serious problem in China. Copycat is a common phenomenon which exists in everywhere and any professional area around us. What’s worse, most of us fail to recognize this problem and even take copycat for granted and maybe that’s why IP can exist and even copycat can flourish in China. We should respect others’ working results and if we don’t respect others how can we expect others to respect us? For us students, copycat is even worse. We should be responsible for ourselves. Even if we got high scores through copycat, what have we learned? Scores mean nothing. We must be honest in front of the knowledge.
I don’t know what IP represent before I review the article. I often went to the bookstore and read books without buying them before, I never had the awareness that that’s offend the IP protection. After reading this article, I understand what is intellectual property protection, I am guilty to some extent. I realize that we have to propagate its real definition to the people through many ways.
Indeed many of our public libraries are not doing a good job serving citizens, and that’s why so many people are reading in book stores. But they won’t be prevented from reading because those stores know there will be potential customers among the readers and are happy to see more people come and read. As far as I know, Japanese book stores just think in the same way. They usually have certain places in the stores for readers to sit and read.
But Japanese spend much more on books than Chinese, and that’s the difference. In China, many people(especially those who love reading) are still poor and can’t afford all the books they want to read. I’m not saying that it’s right for you to be a thief because of poverty, but it’s partly the reality of China. And many books are really a little expensive considering the average income of specific ranks. I agree that the education is important and will give us a bright future, and I also think the problem of IP has something to do with unfair distribution of social wealth. China has a significant growth rate of GDP in recent years, but now most people still don’t have enough money to buy books they like without need to think if they’ve got enough left to pay their food and house.
There is a serious problem this article mentioned, intellectual property. We are taught should not take goods not belonged to ourselves, however, those goods are only concrete goods, not the things about intellectual. Although knowing clearly that IP is protected in law, we sometimes regard copy others’ achievement is reasonable. This is cannot be changed in a few days or a few words, it’s in the blood. The only thing we can do to alter this situation is to inculcate this idea during the educational process. Yet, the education should not be those hypocritical half-hearted educational efforts, it should be sincerely teaching people to respect the IP ownership and IP protection. Yes, the content of education cannot be limited to the knowledge, but also some other principles.
The situation of Intellectual property in china is terrible. Just as the author says ”Chinese people understand that it is wrong to steal tangible goods but there is no concept that taking IP “. Maybe some of our Chinese are not creative. They may just copy what others create. So the Chinese government should let all our people know that if our country want to be the best creative country in the world, we should not steal the IP from us.
Maybe it’s a phenomenon from the bottom of our culture. The Chinese don’t think that the soft equipments canbe measured by monetary, but the hard equipments. When we buy a book, firstly we don’t think how valuable the book is, but we measure the price by the volume and thickness. “Best IP protection is through education, not more enforcement actions”, I like this point. Maybe from the generation of us, the IP protection will have a sharp promotion.
In China, many intellectual properties are invaded everywhere.Just taking a example, outside the Small North Gate , there are so many grocery stores sell pirated CDs, which cover from pop music to U.S.TV drama, maybe they are so cheap that many persons buy them. On the other way, many people may download the sources on the internet. I think the concept about IP Protection may not exist in most Chinese’s minds, so it’s time for our government did something to educate citizens to realize this is a big problem.
These days, internet is SO convenience, we can download almost everything from it: books, movies, songs, games, etc.. To be honest, I often do it-download things from the internet without paying. Most of us know that this action is wrong and infringe the copyright law, but we still do so, because it is convenience and FREE! Take the game soft for example(because I like playing games), buying a genuine disk will cost more than 60RMB, buying a pirate only cost 4-5RMB, how about downloading? Free! Because of this, the game company will suffer great loss. Shanghai Soft Star, a famous game company in China, closed down by the reason of pirate. Only education is not enough, I think. Most people already know about IP and still do something illegal as they know. So, to inflict some severe punishment is necessary. But the price of some genuine goods are really high, maybe cut the price may solve this problem to some extent?
I actually don’t know why I would copy some words, sentences or even paragraphs from the articles on the internet if I was expected to fulfill a little review about my experiments. Using my own words or just thinking of a new idea is tough enough. I don’t know at what the exact time I form the bad habit. It is so hard to get rid of it now. But it does need to be taken away from me. I don’t mean I don’t concern IP protection but I should take seriously about that. I think I will meet with IP protection more frequently.
When I was a child, I always immersed in listening music. In that day, there are two main kinds of music materials are CDs and tapes. CD is more popular, and I often buy it.
Then I found that some were very expensive, others were very cheap. The latter sold only 5% of the former. In that time, I prefer to buy the legal copy. I had not thought of the IP, but just thought it is much different and noble fashion. However, my mother disagreed with my actions because she thought that the cheap copy was the same. What was more? The cheap copy was suit for a student without a salary.
Today I look back into that matter. Maybe it can reflect a few factors. Firstly, in that time I bought the legal copy just for unrealistically compare. Secondly, people think that the cheap is well because they cannot support that legal one. In their eyes, the cheap is more suits for the reality conditions in China. The most importantly, the concept of IP is weak in China. Nevertheless, our government is taking means to change it. For example, many cheaper legal copies, about 30 yuan a piece, are release. All in all, there are times I cherish the suggestion that only do most of our people set up the IP concept, our IP is under the best protection.
Several years ago, Chinese people had no idea about the IP protection. Now, people start to know this concept. But it is far not enough. In China, the books, DVDs or songs still can be copied or downloaded in the internet very easily. Some people may benefit from this because they pay less or pay no money for what they. However, such behaviors reduce the creator’s profit of their creation, which will discourage the creativity of many fields. In the long run, it will go ill with the development of the whole country.
It really shocked me that reading a book in a bookstore for free is just considered as a kind of IP stealing. I am interested in this new concept, but still much confused. Before, I heard about IP protection. For example, you must point out the reference when you quote some of other’s ideas in your research paper. IP protection is more than what I thought. The new idea is always excluded because people are used to the traditional ways. I think it is necessary to spread a more rational IP protection through education. The precondition is that it has been proved better for business, science, society and so on.
I think Intellectual Property protection is respect to original composers. Bacause internet is becoming more and more popular, we were so familiar with copy and download. However, every time we download a video or copy a passage from an article, we have offended IP protection.
If the originality can not earn enough respects, creators could be harmed, which causes less and less valuable works. So we should try our best to protect IP. But the customs may not be easily changed immediately. What we can do now is to recognize the importance of IP protection and further improve the protection laws.
Intellectual property protection is very important in all area. Firstly everyone must exactly understand what intellectual property is. Then we know how to protect and what should protect effectively. At the beginning, I take for intellectual property just as creations of commercial that is common and frequent to hear. When I start to write graduate paper, my tutor emphasizes that if the article you write needs to quote the results of others, you should indicate what you cite. Otherwise your behavior is infringement. Then I gradually realize intellectual property more. Through the search engine GOOGLE I get more information about intellectual property which includes copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions and so. If we just depend on enforcement action to protect IP, it is not high-efficiency. Because IP protection includes many aspects in different area and it is inevitable that loopholes are in the law. A fundamental way to solve the problem is through education.
IP protection is a stricter and stranger topic for us, although our country always advocates the IP Protection, perhaps we now don’t focus on it unless it really exists in our daily lives. In our country, we pay less attention to the intellectual property protection than the western countries to the extent from my point of opinion.
In my memory, IP protection perhaps is important to those people, such as the authors, novelists, prosateurs and those who have published their academic researchers in some periodicals or some books.
In modern days, we can easily download some texts from internet, when we are doing our research, we can find some related texts to read and look for some new angle of view for the same question, or we can do the same research by using some useful sentences among them, but we have already defined the limits on the quotation words , beyond which we can call them plagiarists. In addition, with the development of the social economic, we always copy some things , such DVDS, electrical products and so on, because it’s not necessary for us to buy them for little information about them. On the other hand, we Chinese government indeed don’t care about, and they needs to pay much attention to copyright for protecting private right , and attack some people those commit a crime for steal others’ copy rights. Our country should build a comfortable and fair environment for our academic research.