Slashdot Mirror
The Unauthorized State-Owned Chinese Disneyland
rmnoon writes "Apparently Japanese TV and bloggers have just discovered Disney's theme park in China, where young children can be part of the Magic Kingdom and interact with their favorite characters (like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the Seven Dwarfs). The park's slogan is 'Because Disneyland is Too Far,' and there's even an Epcot-like dome. The only problem? Disney didn't build it, and they didn't authorize it. What's more? It's state-owned!"
Here's a picture from 10 April. Look at #2.
Today, Disney. Tomorrow, GM.
Errr, you meant: Today, Disney. Today GM. China's been accused of 'Auto Piracy' already.
Get used to it
Yup.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
Actually I hope you're already used to it. GM already lost a case - several years ago - where a Chinese manufacturer ripped off, bolt-for-bolt, panel-for-panel, an entire car and then released it to market BEFORE GM did! Brazen as hell. Toyota has also had problems in China for theft and such. I think when foreigners wake up to the fact that there's not really that much money to be made in China they might not be so enthusiastic about jumping in. For instance, huge numbers of cars are made over there, but everyone's killing each other on price. The Chinese are happy about it (they get new factories, trained workers, cars, etc.), but I don't think the foreigners are making any money.
Plus, as I referenced yesterday when commenting on this alarmist post about how the US may soon have "no comparative advantage" - China is not all it's cracked up to be.
Thing is, no one's making money in China, except for a few well-positioned people who can grease the right wheels. Nothing to see here, move along, it's the same old mercantilism and cronyism we find in all non-free markets. The sheer balls of the park manager telling the camerman they "newly invented" the characters ("It's not a mouse, it's a cat with big ears!") is classic.
This guy should be the new Iraqi Information Minister.
--
learnjapanese.poddedcell.net -- Step Up Nihongo, learn Japanese
Actually, IKEA is Swedish, started in Älmhult.
Here's the official English web page for the park:a sp
http://www.bs-amusement-park.com/ChinaIn/about-e.
To be honest, it wouldn't have been to hard to "discover" the park. It's connected to the Beijing subway, it's been open since 1986, and it's rated as a AAAA tourist attraction.
China's Copyright term is 50 years from publication (for corporations) or life of the author plus fifty years.
2 0020416_34754.htm
China's Copyright Law - Article 21. http://www.sipo.gov.cn/sipo_English/flfg/xgflfg/t
EU and American copyright laws only apply within the borders of those nations and no international treaty requires a term of more than 50 years for copyright. Therefore the CTEA aka Sono Bono Copyright Act aka Mickey Mouse Protection Act, are irrelevant in China.
The characters (mickey mouse, donald duck, etc) are in the public domain in China. As for shreik, Hello Kitty, and other newer characters which can also be see in the pictures, i don't know their exact creation dates; but if it is post 1957, the park infringes on the copyright of their creators.
and don't forget fake Budweiser beer. Funny part is that Budweiser USA version is copy of reciepe for "Samson" beer which is cheaper version of original Buweiser beer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_Budvar
839*929
Who beat who with economic sticks?
China holds a huge reserve in US dollars - so much that even threatening to ofload a reasonable chuck of it would significantly weaken the dollar in the money markets (even more than it already is)
If they actually dumped that money then the US could be in serious trouble.
Think the cost of all imports to the US effectively doubling or more in cost (including oil), huge inflation, probably massive interest rises - it would not be a pretty picture for the US.
True the US is a huge market for chineese goods, but china does have other markets.
In an economic war china would win - the chances of it happening are pretty slim, the chances of the US seriously forcing ultimatums down chinas throat on copyright are even more unlikely.
China will start to respect copyright when it decides its in its own best interests and not before (not much different from the US really then)
$_="Slashdotter";$syn="OTT";s;..;;;sub _{print shift||$_};s!ash!Perl !;s=$syn=ack=i;tr+LLEd+BLAH+;_"Just Another ";_
It depends on whether it was created by Walt Disney the person or Disney the company. Also movies (and some other things) are only protected for 50 years from publication, irrespective of whether they were created by a person or company.
Yes.
Say what you will about the CIA, but their World Factbook rocks. Here is a table with countries according to GDP growth.
China is 12th place (after 11 very small economies) with a 10.5% GDP growth rate.
The US is in 148th place, with a 3.4% growth rate.
But even without taking the relative growth rates into account, China is already too close to the US i size to make economic warfare a realistic option. Washington can huff and puff and maybe make some symbolic gestures, but that's about it when it comes to China.
Or Europe, for that matter, should it ever come to that. See this table. And if you live in the US, please persuade your political leaders never to threaten anybody with economic santions if they haven't read it too. :)
Christian Engström, Former Member of the European Parliament 2009-2014 for The Pirate Party, Sweden
It's the Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park
t ml
. html
Here's the official website
http://www.bs-amusement-park.com/
Epcot dome
http://www.bs-amusement-park.com/ChinaIn/huanle.h
Castle
http://www.bs-amusement-park.com/ChinaIn/huanle-b
If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur. --Red Adair
That book does not sound like Finding Nemo at all (besides both characters being fish). Besides, the Finding Nemo story was created by Pixar. I don't think Disney had anything to do with it until they finally bought Pixar since Pixar had broken off their contract with Disney before the film was made and released.
Here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_Taitei
And don't forget that this was not an isolated example.
Both the Dutch and British East India Companies issued their own coins - about as much of an indication of sovereignty as there is.
The Hudson Bay Company used to be a slightly larger land owner than it is now - basically half of North America, including big chunks of what is now the US.
The history of these companies is fascinating, check it out some time.
Zapsavings: Simply calculate how much energy efficient bulb
That report came out after several jobs were reclassified as manufacturing. The primary one being cook, which includes the burger flippers at McD's. Apparently they are no longer performing the service of cooking dinner, but manufacturing food.
Gibson's Disneyland with the Death Penalty was about Singapore, not Indonesia.
Indonesia has the death penalty, but it is much larger than Disneyland and not at all as clean.
Disclaimer: this post is seriously off-topic, but at least it aims to be informative. :)
Most interviews I read with insiders (on and off the record) said that no one consciously copied Kimba, but some of the animators quickly realised they were and began making jokes about it in the office. The better question is "Was there corporate mal intent?" I haven't ready any indication there was, and that the animators and writers may have consciously or unconsciously borrowed from Simba putting Disney in an awkward situation.
Straight Dope has the best answer to this (they talked to the animators no longer working for Disney):
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a991224.html
The bitter lessons of a veteran coder: http://bitterprogrammer.blogspot.com
Considering much of our food and oil is imported, I'd say fucking with the full faith and credit of the United States government is a bad, bad idea.
Take a look sometime at how much debt the U.S. government is in. Not the yearly deficit, but the accumulated debt. It's trillions and trillions of dollars.
Now think about this. Do you honestly believe the people of the U.S. will ever provide enough taxes to pay off that debt?
It's not going to happen. The debt will never be paid off. At some point, either the debt will be repudiated, or the dollar will have fallen in value so much that it will be paid back with literally worthless dollars. And yes, things will get very bad in the U.S. when that happens. The point is, it's already too late to stop it from happening.
The full faith and credit of the U.S. government is already at zero.