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China Announces Punishments For Intellectual-Property Theft (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the it's-about-time dept.

China has announced an array of punishments that could restrict companies' access to borrowing and state-funding support over intellectual-property theft. The news comes after the G20 Summit in Argentina, where the Trump Administration agreed to hold off on tariff action for at least 90 days as they negotiate to resolve specific U.S. complaints. Bloomberg reports: China set out a total of 38 different punishments to be applied to IP violations, starting this month. The document, dated Nov. 21, was released Tuesday by the National Development and Reform Commission and signed by various government bodies, including the central bank and supreme court. China says violators would be banned from issuing bonds or other financing tools, and participating in government procurement. They would also be restricted from accessing government financial support, foreign trade, registering companies, auctioning land or trading properties. In addition, violators will be recorded on a list, and financial institutions will refer to that when lending or granting access to foreign exchange. Names will be posted on a government website. "This is an unprecedented regulation on IP violation in terms of the scope of the ministries and severity of the punishment," said Xu Xinming, a researcher at the Center for Intellectual Property Studies at China University of Political Science and Law. The newly announced punishments are "a security net of IP protection" targeting repeat offenders and other individuals who aren't in compliance with the law, he said.

7 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. I'm sure the anti-Trumpers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    will find some negative spin to this

    1. Re:I'm sure the anti-Trumpers... by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sure the anti-Trumpers will find some negative spin to this

      China has some very excellent and stringent environmental protection laws. Why does China have a shitty environmental record? Simple, China only enforces the environmental protection laws on foreign companies as tool to keep them from being competitive.

      What you need to realize is that "China First" has always been China's policy and this will do nothing to change that. What will likely happen is that China will simply demand the IP using it's existing laws and then share it as part of the government funding. China is a dictatorship and dictators only pretend to play fair.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    2. Re:I'm sure the anti-Trumpers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Say what you will about Trump, I would argue this trade war is because Trump agrees with you; China is always China first. The difference here is that this trade war is about the US showing it's teeth, and altering China's calculus on this.

      While you're right China is about "China first", the complex game here is that Trump is showing that "China first" is better served by not stealing IP, because the US has the ability to cause economic damage and weather China's response. Say what you will about China's strength; their resource and supply chain is long and their markets are foreign as they are an export driven economy. The US is mostly a service economy, and thus is less hurt by tariffs from China then China gets hurt.

      So now the question is, did it work? If China thinks so, then they will enforce this rule, because teh alternative is economic pain from the US.

    3. Re: I'm sure the anti-Trumpers... by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 2, Insightful

      His move to get China to respect IP will be at least as effective as his move to disarm North Korea.

      Do the US negotiators seriously believe this will change anything, or are they just playing along in order to claim a propaganda victory?

    4. Re:I'm sure the anti-Trumpers... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes. This.

      The reality is, as China's lot in life improves -- much due to their own work, its citizens are certainly better off, but this also causes a raise in cost for foreign firms buying from China.

      Most people don't want to see impoverishment of others, only that their own lot in life not be hindered. And IP theft is one way that China is significantly hurting the livelihood of others.

      There was a case I recall, where a company made fish finders. They started to notice all sorts of warranty claims that made zero sense, and after a bit of digging? Discovered a company in China making, and selling, perfect clones of their product. Well, perfect externally, internally they were crap -- hence all the warranty calls.

      When then investigated further, they found an entire company in China. Same name as theirs. Answered the phone as them. Pretended, 100%, to be them.

      Yeah. That's gotta help a family built business.

      This is the sort of thing that borders on just plain evil and absurd. So does a Western firm spending $100M dollars developing something, and having it stolen 12 days after it hits the market.

      It'd be one thing if these products remained in China. For example, providing access to tech not obtainable otherwise, to their domestic population.

      But when you see your own hard work, competing against you? That's beyond harsh.

      It's unfair. It's wrong.

      This isn't a Trump, or even an American issue. Every Western nation, hell every nation on Earth, has this problem with China.

      I'm not sure this will fix it... but what I can say is this...

      Even a broken clock is wrong twice a day, and any leader is 100% right to call China on this, or place barriers to trade if they don't play ball.

  2. China Announces Punishments For Intellectual-Prope by Freischutz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    China Announces Punishments For Intellectual-Property Theft

    Yawn ... call me when they are enforcing this regardless of the nationality of the owner of the stolen IP. The way things are at the moment China benefits from rigorous patent enforcement in the west but Chinese companies enjoy considerable priority and get massive preferential treatment over foreign ones when it comes to patent enforcement on Chinese soil. There is no reason to believe IP enforcement will be any different.

  3. Who gets to decide? by larryjoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, the Chinese government has laid out punishments to be meted out by the Chinese government. However, the real meat of the any punishment depends on who gets to determine guilt and mete out punishment. I assume that the Chinese government would reserve that right for themselves, as would any sovereign nation. If so, can we expect any change from the current situation? If the US government determines that Huawei is guilty of stealing IP, would the Chinese government even bother to consider any punishments, or would they bog down any investigation in bureaucratic maneuvering or assign blame to individual scapegoats instead of the accused Chinese companies.