China is
beginning to tackle its serious software piracy problem, and
Chinese firms are now even suing American firms in US courts for
alleged software intellectual property infringements.
Chinese plaintiffs
have appeared in North American patent courts in recent months. In
early 2006, Netac Technology, a Shezhen-based company, became the
first Chinese company to sue a North American corporation for
copyright infringement, when it brought a case in Texas.
John Lovelock,
director general of the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST),
said, “There appears to be a growing tendency for Chinese companies
to enforce their IP rights at home against foreign competitors. For
example, Chinese courts have recently made findings favouring
Starbucks and Dell Computers in IP cases.”
Lovelock said that
as countries develop their own valuable IP, they become more
protective of it.
Analyst IDC
estimates that 84% of the software used in China in 2005 was
unlicensed. However, China has recently announced a national
working group for IPR protection, which aims to co-ordinate the
country’s IP policies, and which is led by Chinese vice-premier Wu
Yi.
China is also
making it easier to impose jail sentences for IP violation,
overhauling the rules governing disputes between IP owners and
businesses, and is continuing its ‘Mountain Eagle’ police crackdown
on IP crimes.
The Chinese
government has also set up the China IPR Criminal Protection Forum,
which will include representatives of the Chinese business
community and the US and EU governments.