With the current laxed climate and unenforced international trade laws, China has fast become the world’s leader in theft of intellectual property and copyright infringement. And, China has made itself enemy number one of the United States due to its willingness allow criminals to operate with impunity within its borders and its unwillingness to adhere to international laws or simply enforce its own laws. Furthermore, the rampant theft of intellectual property and copyright infringement by China has also morphed into two of the greatest threats faced by United State’s corporations today. This has caused U.S. corporations to face head on the ongoing dilemma of whether to continue to do business with China or explore other opportunities with countries which may be ill-suited to conduct business on the magnitude and scale at which China is able to. More specifically, per the lesson text, in the digital era, intellectual property is reduced to a stream of zeros and ones in a computer. While this is great for our access, it also makes intellectual property vulnerable to unauthorized and easy reproduction. While the cost of operations is low, many companies have come to the reality that there have developed some high risks which are inevitable when doing business with China; namely, the risk of losing profits and copyright and intellectual property.
It is important that we first understand what intellectual property is and how it impacts our lives. Intellectual property often refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce. It is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, ...
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... to high international standards. Spurred on by its reform and opening up, China has carried on its intellectual property protection legislation at a speed never before known. Its systems have only been established a short time and as a result, awareness of intellectual property rights remains underdeveloped and many times non-existent throughout China’s business environment. It can also be assumed that in many regions and throughout the government as a whole, there is insufficient appreciation of the importance of intellectual property protection. China has an obligation to solidify the confidence of potential stakeholders through the implementation of new more sweeping intellectual property laws and ultimately, their enforcement. These steps alone will mark a great new step forward in the nation's efforts to ensure the protection of intellectual property rights.
Way before their time Esther Dyson and Lance Rose both had their own opinions about the future of 'intellectual property' in the digital age. In 1995, two authors noticed this emergence of change. In the Wired article "The Emperor's Clothes Still Fit Just Fine" Lance Rose suggested that the norm of copyright infringement being a criminal act such as stealing a car would prevent this practice from becoming something that would be acceptable in society today. This leads into his argument that we do not need to change the current laws (in 1995) to prevent future copyright infringement. Esther Dyson's Wired article on the other hand titled "Intellectual Value" expresses a completely opposite view of this very same issue of copyright. Her arguments support the claim that copyright infringement would become more prominent in society and cause major revision of how we approach and pass laws toward the handling of intellectual property. Both of these articles were very predictive from the time they were written and have been proved accurate by events through the years.
Before Information Technology, tangible property such as land, buildings, goods, equipment etc. was the most valuable asset of a business. Now economic power is in the monetization of knowledge, ideas and innovation. Work or invention which results from creativity such as a new design or manuscript gives the creator the right to apply for a patent, copyright or trademark and to benefit from their authorship of scientific, literary or artistic creations.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines piracy as “the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted or patented material.” It is a problem that affects companies all over the world. Piracy of software, movies, and music is commonplace in China. China has the second worst piracy rate in the world; about 92 percent of the software in China is pirated (Williams 2004). Various companies and governments have attempted to combat piracy, but they had not seen much success until recent years. Combating piracy is a difficult task, especially in a country that has a history of not enforcing intellectual property laws.
Intellectual property is an incredibly complicated facet of the law. In the United States, we have many laws in place to control and limit profiting from others intellectual property. The issue is not only profiting from others intellectual property, but not purchasing the property from the originator as well. We will discuss why it is important to protect this property as well as why it is tremendously difficult to regulate all these safe guards. “Intellectual Property has the shelf life of a banana.” Bill Gates
Intellectual Property Law used to only protect art, music, and literature, but because of technological development, Intellectual Property Law now also protects a greater variety of innovations including designs, inventions, symbols, discoveries, and words. The phrase “intellectual property” was first known to be used in the late 1700’s; however, it was not widely talked about, nor was the Intellectual Property Law in actuality commonly implemented. Intellectual Property Rights slowly gained more attention by mid-1800’s after the Industrial Revolution had taken place: more companies were created, competition between corporations became fiercer, and owning unique innovations were crucial to winning the competition. However, as Intellectual Property
With the boom of technology in China and the new capitalism ideas, China also has a huge piracy problem. According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance's 2003 report on China, the piracy problem in China creates $1.85 billion in 2002 alone with 90% piracy rates for all copyrighted materials.5 This piracy problem affects negatively on China's global relations and economic improvements. China's current copyright laws are still in its teenage years, and the fast pace of technological advancement isn't helping either.
The World Intellectual Property Organization, Intellectual property is the ‘products of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, any symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce’. Intellectual Properties such as Patents, designs, trademarks and copyrights are protected by laws. The US government offers different types of protection for these properties. The Lanham Act (15 U.S.C.A. Section 1051 et seq., also known as the Trademark Act of 1946, provides protection for trademarks. A trademark is defined as a name, word, symbol, or device or any combination thereof, adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify its goods and distinguish them from those manufactured and sold by others.
China's development is praised by the whole world. Its developments are not only in the economic aspect, but as well in its foreign affairs. Compared with other developed countries, China is a relatively young country. It began constructing itself in 1949. After 30 years of growth, company ownership had experienced unprecedented changes. Entirely, non-state-owned companies can now be more involved in sectors that used to be monopolized by state-owned companies.
Intellectual property is property resulting from intellectual, creative processes. A product that was created because of someone’s individual thought process. Examples includes books, designs, music, art work, and computer files. (Miller R. J., 2011, p. 114) In the music industry a copyright is an important tool for artist to use to protect themselves from infringers. A copyright is the exclusive right of an author or originator of a literary or artistic production to publish, print, or sell that production for a statutory period of time. A copyright has the same monopolistic nature as a patent or trademark, but it differs in that it applies exclusively to works of art, literature, and other works of authorship (including computer programs). (Miller R. J., 2011, p. 125)
Intellectual property (IP) is defined as property that is developed through an intellectual and creative processes. Intellectual property falls under the category of property known as intangible rights, which includes patents (inventions of processes, machines, manufactures, and compositions of matter), copyrights (original artistic and literary works of), trademarks (commercial symbols), and trade secrets ((product formulas, patterns, designs). Intellectual property rights has a significant value to both individuals and businesses, providing in the case of large companies, over one half of their value on return. Since intellectual property rights are so important to the U.S. economy and its citizens, federal and state law provides protection, for example, civil damages and criminal penalties to be assessed against infringers. Due to the importance of intellectual property to a business, I don’t think that its protection and enforcement is going to be a thing of the past.
Shultz II, C.J and Saporito, B. (1996), ‘Protecting Intellectual Property: Strategies and Recommendations to Deter Counterfeiting and Brand Piracy in Global Markets’, The Columbia Journal of World Business, 31(1): pp. 18-28.
Recently, the Internet has become the most significant technology in all over the world, which is not only used by the people to contact with each other but also utilized by the business organizations to become global (Taylor, Caeti, Loper, Fritsch & Liederbach, 2006). Computer and internet enable the business organizations to execute the Electronic commerce business model, which has become very popular. Computers and Internet are a powerful source in the success of globalization and international business. Computers are being used worldwide and due to this, cyber crimes are increasing continuously with a rapid growth (Cheeseman, 2006).
As American and European markets mature, Asia is turning out to be progressively appealing to businesses, particularly to e-business firms that flourish with global and scalable business models. Yet, barring markets like Japan, most global e-commerce players like Amazon, eBay and Expedia have yet to find in Asia the kind of success that they have enjoyed in their home markets. While late entry and local regulations partly explain their low market share in the region, these firms also face unique challenges in Asia due to diverse cultures, multiple languages and poor infrastructure. Given the rising significance of the Asian market, interest in the territory would seem to be a consistent step. But, it’s important not to forget that the international playing field, in respect of Intellectual Property, is exceptionally dynamic and competitive.
Intellectual property is the ownership of ideas as well as the control over the tangible or virtual representation of those ideas. Software is intellectual property, as are books, movies, and music.Like music performers and authors, software developers use copyright laws to protect their work and their investment in the field. The theft of intellectual property thus eliminates the resources used to develop newer and better products.
Intellectual property is information, original ideas and expressions of the persons mind that have profitable value and are protected under copyright, patent, service mark, trademark/trade secret regulation from replication, violation, and dilution. Intellectual property includes brand items, formulas, inventions, data, designs and the work of artists. It is one of the most tradable properties in the technology market.