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 ↩
Intellectual property protection is of great importance for economic growth. It gives the owners certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, which will provide a financial incentive and encourage more creation of intellectual property. China have been opened to the world for more than 30 years and achieved a fast development, but the intellectual property protection has not yet sank deep into the hearts of the people. There are pirate flood the market and consumers buy them in no guiltiness. As it refers in the article, education is the fundamental key to change. Education can change people’s mind and solve the problem from the root while enforcement actions are only effective for those successfully prosecuted.
I agree with that we should protect Intellectual property (IP).
In my memory, the word of IP impressed me firstly at the senior school. At that time, as a commissary in charge of publicity in our class, on Franco-Prussian Day, I made a blackboard newspaper about the law. So I knew something of it. For instance, IP is that the right of the people who creates or innovates some intellectual product goes with the law.
Generally speaking, in China, most people do not what the IP is, even for the college students, some of the teachers. Of course, after China joined WTO, many regulations enforcement us to study the IP, and fashion the IP law. However, the key role is the situation that people obey it in the process of business or trade at home or abroad. And we should appeal that people to enhan
’Chinese people understand that it is wrong to steal tangible goods but there is no concept that taking IP without compensation is wrong.’I really agree with that. Someone can read books for free in the bookstore for several hours. I thought it’s very common and legal before, but now, after reading this article, I am awaked.
Sometimes we copy a part of others’ works for our papers with a quiet conscience. Well, that’s wrong. Some plagiarism cases have been exposed in China recently.
IP protection is necessary. Right concept is necessary. Education about this is necessary, too!
I am really sorry for reading books for free in the book stores. It’s my most favourite action. I have been a IP thief for a long, long time. Free music download, free movie download, free software download, free book download and so on, all of these are violating Copyright Law. We are happy to thieve other people’s ideas because we, students especially, can’t afford so many CDs, DVDs and books we love. I know it’s not the reason to be an IP thief. But where there is demand, there is a market. And if there’re such resources on web, people get no reasons to refuse them. So I don’t think the situation will be changed in the coming several years.
After reading this text, I feel guilty of what I have done before. Honestly speaking, I read books in the book store, and always watch movies or dramas online without paying. I enjoy them, for I can get the free things. However, I am shamed to know that it’s an illegal action, which is called theft. I believed that since they are provided on the stores or the internet, people on line take it a valid resource for them to download and without doubt that it’s not offending laws. Also, millions of people do the same, it must be not a crime. I did think so, too. However, now I think it is wrong. But it’s not easy to reject doing so. People like free things, and enterprises can get benefit through advertisements from the website if many people surf it. The fact is it needs implementing the IP protection, but it will take time and patience.
With the development of the technology，we can easily get others’ ideas and intelligence on the Internet，CD，and other means. Thus，the Intellectual Property（IP）become more and more important for cultural development and the private right. Now we can see many behaviors like pirate copyright appear. However，when we borrow and ues others’ ideas，we should explan that the right belongs to whom. As far as I am concerned，there is no necessary to change the situation，or it will reduce the quality of the cultural communication.
Some of what you said I agree with. Stealing both tangible good and intangible Products is illegal. we have the most comprehensive and up-to-date Intellectual Property protection laws but people have no concept that taking IP without compensation is wrong. Maybe it’s just because china is a developing country. Many people in china have little sense about stealing IP. Honestly speaking, I read books in the book store, and always watch movies or dramas online without paying. I enjoy them, for I can get the free things. I am not aware that I am stealing .We should make them know Stealing intangible Products is also illegal by propaganda and education. People will know it’s illegal and won’t do it . There is still a long way for China to protect IP completely. But I believe we can do it in the future.
Indeed the intellectual property don’t been saw a seriously thing in most china people’ eyes . while may be it ‘s due to the traditional culture. Most Chinese people have the mind of cutting short way and most Chinese can’t afford this expensive good, so some of us do ignore the intellectual property. We know it is wrong ,while there is no other way . In my opinion ,making strict law is the best way to protecting the intellectual property, we will also try our best to protecting it .
After I read this text, I was shocked again by the Intellectual Property. We need the Intellectual Property to protect the results of our labor. When I just entered this university, in the ceremony, the word I have heard most frequently from the teacher was the Intellectual Property. Particularly, in our time of writing, if we want to use a list of word from other article, we must indicate the origin of this article and the author. But I have no concept that taking IP without compensation is wrong. Most people ignore this point. If I do not read this article, I may continue to do the wrong thing. This is a matter that worth paying attention to. But most ones do this free thing, if we want to change this condition, it has a long way to go.
The concept of protecting intellectual property in China has not yet been given sufficient attention. We can easily find pirated copies of books, just as we can easily find pirated copies of CD, cottage mobile phones and so on. Also,it looks like the book piracy in China has a bigger market, especially for Chinese students. We always believe that genuine books are too expensive, and pirated a lot cheaper, and we students can afford. As a graduate student, we accepted a lot of education, of course, including legal, including relative intellectual property protection laws. However, as far as I am concerned , it is impossible not to copy the information ,copy the books , download a free books, films and so on. They have become a part of our lives, until the market disappears.
Of course, I hope that day will come sooner.
Do we have a similar software company as the Microsoft in America? No, absolutely we do not have one!
If we buy a new computer, it just cost us about four thousand RMB. If we want install a genuine Windows operating system, we need pay about one thousand RMB. Many of us will buy a pirated CD/DVD. That’s why our native software company can not develop and grow stonger. This phenomenon does exist in other industies.
Yes, We are the next generation of business and government leaders. We know where’s wrong and we’ll change it.
As far as I am concerned, the intellectual property is far from being paid attention to than other aspects for the folowing reasons:
First of all, the traditional culture has no sense to protect IP. It is usually ignored by people, both elites and common people. The reason mainly lies in the common sense that all acknowledge should be shared to the whole country, especially the useful and key acknowledge. What’s more, the custom of using others acknowledge is too normal to get concern, no one in Chinese history has ever claim his acknowledge has been abused by giving no money and benefited. In the traditional idea, the usage of acknowledge has not been commonly accepted.
Secondly, the sense of being poor has been accepted by most people. In this way, acknowledge especially in the IT aspects is mostly cracked by Chinese to “save” money with the sacrificing of others benefits. However, because of the idea that many Chinese benefits from the unprotected property, so the government will not pay its effort to ban the abuse of the acknowledge from abroad.
I agree the view “the best IP protection is through education, not more enforcement actions”. IPR is not new thing in China, but it is developing slowly. Chinese people understand that it is wrong to steal tangible goods but there is no concept that taking IP without compensation is wrong. Most of us didn’t realize what we are doing is stealing, such as copying a book, downloading movies and music. We should educate the students who are easy to open to new knowledge. And then they can inform the people around them the concept of IP protection. It is not easy to solve that problem and change the thinking of Chinese people for a short time. Increasing IP enforcement actions can not change Chinese thinking and attitude towards IP ownership and protection to a desired way. Maybe it makes them to find loopholes in the law. The actions address symptoms but not root causes.
Some universities in China have the essays-plagiarizing scandals in 2009. A great numbers of companies in China earn money by making dissertation for students. All of them lack awareness of IP protection. I think we all have ever copied a textbook because to copy are much cheaper than to buy one in the bookshop. Maybe it’s because the government never promotes the IP protection and never force us to stop these kinds of behavior. But recently, more and more experts begins to appeal publicity and school of IP protection have established in People’s University of China. So I think the government will value the IP protection and try to make a change very soon.
IP plagiarism is a severe but very common phenomena in China. As a student in university, I can see no more about that. Students often copy homework from their classmates or the internet. Some students even plagiarize when they are writing their thesis. They are what is called IP thief. What’s worse, some teachers close their eyes about their students’ plagiarism or even they themselves will plagiarize sometimes. So I don’t think that situation will become better in a short time. Even now we still have no effective way to stop plagiarizing. Maybe just as what is mentioned in the title, the best IP protection is through education. But what is certain is that we still have a long long way to go.
As the article mentions, China has some of the most comprehensive and up-to-date Intellectual Property (IP) protection laws of any country in the modern world, which is a direct result of China’s serious fourteen-year pursuit of World Trade Organization membership and compliance with its WTO obligations.
It is really difficult for Chinese people to understand that it is wrong to take IP without compensation. Even Chinese don’t know that intellect is one kind of property. Although there are some Intellectual Property protections now, it is a very long way for China to go. Government, enterprises and individuals should participate in the IP protection together, contributing to the cause to their best. Enforcing consciousness is the first step, and then taking actions with law support and guarantee.
I know you are very serious about IP protect. I have learned from someone that most of the foreigners know a lot about IP protect. They don’t download the illegal resource, such as movies and e-books. But we often do that. Sometimes we buy the gravures,and it save us a lot of money.Even though we know that it is wrong because it infringes the benefit of the authors,we still do that and the producers of that kind of books still exist.It is profit-driven activity.”Best IP Protection is Through Education, Not More Enforcement Actions”.I can’t agree more. The best way to reduce this social phenomenon is to let everyone know the importance and meaning of IP protect.
Before reading the article I thought I know Intellectual Property right very clearly, but now I think I am wrong. I thought to crop a book without permission or compensation obeys the law, to cite other people’ words or ideas without quoting are also wrong. But I did not realize that when reading books for free in the bookstore is also violating the Intellectual Property law. I just do not have the awareness. We taking it for granted. It is acceptable according to my former knowledge. I become a theft when reading books for free in the bookstore. But I think if I told this to my Chinese friends who are also college students, they can not understand this. So not to mention other people who did not receive high education. It is really difficult to change Chinese people’s mind.
I agree that the Best IP Protection is through education, not more enforcement actions
But in most universities in China, some professors do not have the concept of IP, so not to mention the students. There are still a lot of things to be done. The key is to educate our college students. They are the future of our country and the next generation of political and business leaders.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY BELONGS TO THE PERSON WHO USED THEIR BRAIN TO CREATE IT. IF YOU STEAL IT, WHY WOULD ANYONE CREATE ANYTHING NEW?
I don’t think Intellectual Property is a good idea.Only Intellectual Share could make the whole human improve,however,it is a long way to realize this idea say nothing to practise.Throw away this unearthly idea,in the real-life,the competition exists between the countries,the companies,and the individuals,so there must be IP appearance.But I am still in a puzzle about IP.Both people read the book in the bookstore without a pay and people copy the book in the library is a theft,then all the previous theories that we learn should pay.And who are not able to pay should not get intellect ,and how could the whole human improve?
On the first hand, I must say that China has made much effort in Intellectual Property. Nobody can deny the fact that we have made great progress in IP protection. In the last century, not many people had the definition of IP. After governments promulgated some laws of copyright protection, media constantly propagandized IP and lots of activities were held, Chinese began to know the importance of intellectual property. We can see that more and more people are taking legal methods to protect their rights.
On the other hand, there are a lot of things to be amended. After reading this article, I realized I have been a thief for a long time. I hardly buy books, hardly buy CD and hardly go to theatre to see movie. I always download books, songs, teleplays and films. If not reading this article, did I know that all these things are illegal. Like the saying “Best IP protection is through education, not more enforcement actions”, we still have a lot of orders to learn.
As far as I am concerned, the Chinese government has spared no efforts in Intellectual Property and taken measures in related education. Since I was a middle school student, I always got the information of cases about Intellectual Property from our political teachers. China did make a progress compared to the older generation. However, it still have a long way for China to struggle to go ahead and it’s undoubted to be a tough task since the Chinese used to ignoered IP for a long time, and to change the concepts do need to pay more concern and time to it.
As we all know, introduction of foreign technology is one of the main factor for the rapidly development of China’s economic in the last 30 years. Also, we know that intellectual play an important role in our country’s development. However, most of the Chinese people do not what is Intellectual Property. As a result, though there are many of law about IP protection in China, the implementation is so poor. In my opinion, that is because the government fears that IP protection will harm the economic. I think this is a shortsighted behavior, in the long run, it will harm our whole country.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH.
If we couldn’t learn enough knowledge,how could we create anything new?
Intellectual property protection is the guarantee of the survival and development of many companies. There is no doubt that IP protection is very important. Now, China have been of reform and opening for 30 years, so many things including technology、software、machines and so on are concentrated here. But it is a fact that IP protection has not been deep into the heart of Chinese people. We can see pirate software、“white box handset” everywhere. Why? They are much cheaper than the quality goods ,and their quality also are good enough. How to change the atmosphere? As it refers to the article, education is the fundamental key to take a change. With China’s rapid development, people become more rich, I think the situation will be better.
Frankly speaking, almost no conversation has received more praise and abuse than Intellectual Property in china. We can buy a pirated CD/DVD and also copy the book which we borrow from other folks. We also install pirated software because we can’t afford it and we can download lots of software from internet in free charge. But it isn’t benefit to company and society prompt forward. As far as I am concerned, In view of the seriousness of this problem, effective measures should be taken before things get worse. Any government, which is blind to this point, may pay a high price. However, it will take some time to absolutely protect Intellectual Property in china.
Another issue worth our reflection, Martin always like to bring some profound issues that we easy to overlook to us, leading us to face up to and thinking of, and then we can change some of our bad habits. Indeed, our country did not do well enough in IP protection, even we college students with higher consciousness than others are also ignore of some daily kind of IP protection . We took the IP for granted that we stole other people’s work as thieves but we don’t know! What a shame! It own to our lack of education and awareness of this issue. I agree of that the best way to protect IP is through education rather than enforcement actions. Only everyone has awareness of the protection of IP, can our society have more innovations and respect of IP. I believe that through publicity and education, our Chinese can do it.
In any case, piracy is a kind of improper behavior. ‘Best IP Protection is Through Education, Not More Enforcement Actions.’ I agree with that. But I think it should be from the economic point of view in order to address the root causes of piracy. As an ordinary citizen, no one would object to the protection of intellectual property rights. But with the price differences, it is difficult to resist temptation. As the imbalance of economy in global development, there is also price discrimination. The income gap between the different situations that people’s purchasing power is also different. A price of 50 U.S. dollars of software, for an ordinary consumer of the United States, and perhaps only he would spend half a day’s wages, but for an ordinary Chinese people, it would take to his month’s wages. Therefore, it is clear to find to balance the profit between intellectual property holders and the consumers is the key to the problem.
I have done many things to break Intellectual Property protection. The system of my computer is Windows 7, the newest one system of microsoft corporation. But I got a illegal copy easier than got a legal copy. I fell regretful and ashamed about this. Yes ,we accept little education about the importance of IP protection, we just buy the things which is cheaper or for free. If we are all well educated about the IP protection and will not to buy illegal copy, then the person who sell illegal copy can not get enough profit from it, they will get up this business. If there are profit from illegal copy, more enforcement actions are useless.
Intellectual property is a very important thing in China. There are so many cases of infringement of intellectual property rights, even Chinese government spare no effort to forbid it. There are so many pirated products on the market such as CD, books. I think there are some ways we should to do to reduce this. Firstly, we should not buy pirated products, and also dissuade people who want to buy fake and shoddy products so the manufacturers cannot survival. Secondly, the government should develop rules and regulations and strengthen law enforcement efforts to regulate commercial activity. The best way is education, we should told everyone the adverse consequences.
I always think I know something about Intellectual Property, but I found it is not the truth after reading this article.
In my opinion before, infract IP means copy or steal the paper, invention or something else production from other person. But after read this article, I was shocked because I think about what I have done in the dairy life, may be I already be an IP thief for a long time! Almost everyday, we download the free song, free movie, and the free paper from internet, we never think about the IP problem with them. Even I know it now, but what should we do? Or what can we do? It’s impossible for us to listening every song with buy the CD or watches every movie in the cinema, so I would like to see a better progress with this situation.
When I write papers, my tuor often remind me that I must specify the author and references if I quote his charts or experiment datas. It must be serious academically. And I think it is rightly something about intellectual property(IP). It is usual that we borrow books and copy what we need, and we didn’t realize that we infringe the right of the author. Nowadays，we are members of WTO and we should honour private ownership of IP. However，this is a great challenge. We are used to copying. And our government are making efforts to make relative laws. I think the value of IP protection should be propagated among people，especially students at school. I wish that we realize something wrong and we stop it immediately, when we read books at the bookstore or copy books without authorization next time.
This is article reminds me that the Google Digital Library infringed the copyright of China books case. There 18000 books are “quietly” infringement by Google. And it is not the first time Google do that thing. There are also the Google Pinyin copied the Sogou Pinyin Library case two years ago. So I think the IP plagiarism problem is not only in China but also it is a problem all over the world. I think it just maybe the western plagiarism cleverly, just not easy to discover. In a word, the IP plagiarism problem is the world problem.
I think most people have the copyright knowledge nowadays in China especial university students. Take me for example; I use the copyleft software such as Linux not Windows, Gcc not Visual C++, and so on. In the model time, China has made a good effort to protect the Intellectual Property. And I agree the article point the education in more important than enforcement actions
Intellectual property protection is of great importance for economic growth. China have been opened to the world for more than 30 years and achieved a fast development, but the intellectual property protection has not yet sank deep into the hearts of the people.Chinese people understand that it is wrong to steal tangible goods but there is no concept that taking IP without compensation is wrong. This is hypocritical and sends the wrong message to the students who are the next generation of business and government leaders. It is no easy task to bring such fundamental change to the thinking of 1.3 billion Chinese people. I don’t think the situation will be changed in the coming several years. There is still a long way for China to protect IP completely. But I believe we can do it in the future.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
PEOPLE GO TO BED HUNGRY EVERY NIGHT. THEY NEED MORE FOOD. THEY CAN’T GO INTO A GROCERY STORE, SIT ON THE FLOOR AND EAT WHAT THEY NEED TO STAY ALIVE, AND THEN LEAVE WITHOUT PAYING.
SO IF YOU ARE HUNGRY FOR KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN’T EAT A BOOK FOR FREE EITHER.
As to the issue of people’s sitting on the bare floor stealing IP (reading books for free) in Chinese bookstore, I would like to air my own views. I have to agree with the idea that their act of reading it without compensation also constitutes a theft. Intangible thoughts and ideas are also valuable goods, it is reasonable for us to pay for what we have read. However, in China, the phenomenon of reading books in book stores is so prevalent that we just take it for granted. Want to change it? Take the situation in China into consideration, maybe it is not easy, or rather, quite difficult. Some people, who are not rich enough to buy every book they want to read, are eager to learn more knowledge, thus they choose to read them in the bookstores.
Google search engine tells me that Intellectual property (IP) is a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs.
But even Google itself, made a big mistake as a joke, the Google Digital Library use and disseminate a large number of works without authorization of copyright owner.
In China, there are more examples which obey IP protection law. But it’s hard to charge those stealer in this country with imperfect legal system. Through education maybe is a better and more effective method.
With the integration with the world step by step, more and more Chinese know about Intellectual Property protection, but many of them don’t understand why they can’t read books in the bookshop with the agreement of the bookshop manager. It seems normal to Chinese to buy Pirated Books and CD, download software from internet for free.
Thus, scientific education is needed. Maybe it is difficult to perform because China has the biggest population in the world. But Chinese is intelligence and diligence. Try our best to do it.
After reading the article, I am shocked by the idea-free reading is called theft. It is true that intellectual property protection is of great importance for economic growth,but I didn’t realize the viewpoint. To me, I am shamed to know it’s an illegal action, which is called theft.Now I am sorry for what I have done before Frankly speaking, I read books in the book store and saw films without paying in the past. Nevertheless,it is a common phenomenon around me.It is said that reading in the bookstores and watching movies on the internet without paying are not a crime but reasonable actions. As a matter of fact,a revlolution is essential and education is the fundamental key to change. However,personally speaking, it is tough to reject doing so and there is a long way to go for implementing the IP protection.
When seeing this phenomenon, I really get worried about our country. Yes, we have five thousand years’ history, but in the long river of the history, it really left something not really good beyond the good fortune of material and spirit, for example, the Intellectual Property (IP) protection. We inherit that we can use others’ method, tools, ideas, etc. Now society is changing, individual right become more and more important, but because of the not-prevailing education of the rights, not too many people know their rights, when their rights are violated, they do not know how to safeguard. Nowadays, IP has been our own economic best interests. we all know that it is wrong to steal tangible goods but there is no concept that taking IP without compensation is wrong. So I can’t agree it any more with teacher’s idea and we really need a proper education. Also, I am very appreciate with the law promulgated.
I have to admit that IP protection is a serious problem nowadays in China. For a long time, the Chinese people have hold a point that property is only the things that can be seen or touched by themselves. So, to them ,a computer software means only a disk, they can only be willing to pay 5 yuan for it, this is to say, they don’t have the sense that Intellectual Property is a kind of property. So, under this circumstance, enforcement actions can’t work a lot for people still has misunderstanding about it.The best solution to it, of course, should be the education.This would change the conception of the people, and lead to pay for IP of their own accord.
I don’t think a man with more knowledge will protect intellectual property rights consciously. Newspapers say that even some famous artist bought DVD with pirated movie. They knew that it was illegal. They even know that it will damage their own benefit in long term. But they still did it.
So I think in order to protect intellectual property the most important thing is Increasing enforcement action. People whit higher education will be more inclined to protect intellectual property, but not always to be. Powerful tool is necessary.
Intellectual property is a right of enjoying the results of possession, use, disposition and earnings to the intellectual labor. Nowadays, IP has become the high ground in the context of economic globalization, which enable businesses to reap excessive profits, and has become the focus of enterprises and national, s competition. It is also a new means and a weapon to settle with the international economic relations. We have entered one era which depends intellectual property rights to participate in international competition. So to protect Intellectual property is very important nowadays. Since participated into WTO, China’s so growing emphasis on the protection of intellectual property that he can be in place in the fierce competition. I hope that China will become more mature in this area.
It is a problem which will exist for a long time in China. Firstly, it will take a long time to accept this concept. We all know it is illegal to steal other people’s tangible and intangible property. However, in some aspects, we take it as granted. For example, we are all used to free movie download, so it is hard for us to purchase a DVD. Secondly, it is really too expensive for us. Suppose we read 20 books every year and each book costs 20 yuan, it will be 400 yuan. Suppose we watch 30 movies a year and each movie ticket cost 50 yuan, it would be 1500 yuan. Most of us are not that rich. Sometimes we do know the problem but we just can not change it in a short period of time.
A majority of Chinese does not know what IP protection is, and they fail to discern the importance of IP protection. This phenomenon may be connection with the loss education of this field. Since we were children, we bough piracy records from the shops and nobody told us it was incorrect. We downloaded films and songs from the internet for free and we did not realize this does harm to IP. All the things we did is common in China, and no one tell us we should pay for it. So, I do agree the assertion that best IP protection is through education.
I agree with that best IP protection is through education, not more enforcement actions. Because more enforcement actions will just tell people not to steal IP but people still do not know why they can’t steal it so that they can’t remember it. With the purpose of protecting IP ,we have to change people’s mind. We have to tell them that IP is also property of others and taking IP without compensation is wrong, as well as stealing tangible goods. However ,how to change people’s mind? The one and the only way is through education. We should hope that enforcement actions work now but education works in the future .
I agree with you that the best IP protection is through education, not more enforcement actions. As you know, there are a lot of pirated goods in China, such as pirate CD, pirated DVD, pirated books and so on. Many Chinese would like to buy the pirated goods because they are much cheaper. But it really breaks the Copyright Law and infringes a copyright. As a real fan, I will buy the Genuine CD to support my idol, not pirated CD. I had no idea that reading books in the bookstore without paying is an IP thieve before Martine told us. Luckily I can borrow books form the library in school. But many people can’t afford to buy the books or be able to borrow books form the libraries. So they can only read the books from the bookstores. Maybe they should pay for it after reading, and it will be a pleasure for the readers and the shopkeepers. I do agree that the universities should teach IP protection and they must implement what they teach. And then more and more people will know about IP protection and take action to protect IP.
To be honest，I have faith in Hegel’s saying that ‘What is rational is actual and what is actual is rational’deeply.It is a real fact that a majority of Chinese does not know what IP protection is,not only celebrity but also common people,not only the illiteracy but also lots of highly educated people.it is very difficult to carry out the IP pretection thoroughly.Most of us enjoy to be a theft,we don’t have the concept of IP pretection.even if we konw that, i think most of us will still do that for it can bring saving and convenience.
“is it necessary to implement that law?” the answer is of course from my point.It seem contradictory that thinking is one thing, doing is another matter .I think that it will take a long long time to do it,and the best and effective way to pretection is through education.
After reading the article, I know I am completely wrong. I never considered reading magazines was infringement of intellectual property rights and often did this in the bookstore, the shopkeeper also never stopped me, I feel ashamed for it now. I know pirated DVD software is violating other’s IP rights, but a large number of people use it. As the article says, increasing IP enforcement action tenfold isn’t an effective way. Because people are not embedded the concept of private intellectual property rights, people should be educated to recognize it, then follow the laws.
Please forgive me for thinking the problem pessimistically, it’s difficult for us to change the situation in a short time. Although we know that it’s not good to buy pirated software and video, we still do that for the petty interest, and the key is that we only opine that is an immoral act rather than a criminal act. And we also watch TV and listen music and read on line, we think it’s an age of resorts sharing , we have no sense to protect other’ intellectual property.
People always enjoy the free lunch, so we have a long way to change the situation. As what said in the article, education is the fundamental key to change that, I think we have something to do. Firstly, we should inculcate people with the awareness of IP protection, we must learn to respect other’s fruit of intellectual. Secondly we set up some courses about the IP protection in primary school. Finally, the relevant legal should be spread across the country widely.
Maybe someone awear thao intellectual property protection problem is becoming more and more serious in China at present. So we should take the action now to protect our own intellectual property . The following methods are my personal advises.First of all, we must enhance the law awearness of the people– legal protection of intellectual property is important. Legal protection of intellectual property is the most important link. We can’t protect the Intellectual property without laws. Secondly, we should publicize the knowledge of intellectual property protection around the entire country. Finally, to improve the national cultural quality will help the intellectual property protection.
In my opinion, it is impossible to change this phenomenon in China in very recent ears. In China, people usually have a weak awareness in IP. Even most will not consider that buying a piratic VCD or software is wrong! I don’t know the situation of IP in other developing countries like our China, maybe it’s the same. If we are as rich as American or Japanese, we can afford the expensive price. So I think it’s just a necessary process in every country’s development.
In conclusion, in China the way of IP still is still long and difficult.