09-15-2022, 02:19 PM
China is the defacto manufacturing location for many products sold in the United States. In fact, defense companies are hard pressed to source many products they need from US manufacturers. This has been going on for decades.
And intellectual property theft is rampant and patent and copyright violations are completely and utterly ignored. Unless the American company has an actual manufacturing facility in China, AND has the attention and interest of the local political factions / party officials.
Two examples:
1- Broken Pottery Business
My wonderful Aunt had a business in Berkeley, CA that employed artisans that made pottery vessels that looked exactly like various vegetables... usually gourds and such. The business ran quite well and had quite the following for years.
Then a Chinese company copied the copyrighted designs. And sold them through retailers in the United States. Completely undercutting her business. She hired lawyers but was unable to get attention. And her sales dried up, and her business had to close, and talented artisans were out of work.
2- Flaming Counterfeit Machines
The company that employs me has several factories in China. And we started seeing counterfeit products appearing in the markets around the world. They looked like our products, but the serial numbers and codes were all fake. And the products were cheaply made and dangerous. We had patents and trademarks around the world, including in China. We went to the Chinese courts.
And a few months later that counterfeiting business was shut down by the Chinese military. And a photo exists of a grinning Colonel in the PRA, in fatigues, with a flame thrower in his hand, smoking a big cigar. And a huge pile of counterfeit machines was on fire in the background.
And intellectual property theft is rampant and patent and copyright violations are completely and utterly ignored. Unless the American company has an actual manufacturing facility in China, AND has the attention and interest of the local political factions / party officials.
Two examples:
1- Broken Pottery Business
My wonderful Aunt had a business in Berkeley, CA that employed artisans that made pottery vessels that looked exactly like various vegetables... usually gourds and such. The business ran quite well and had quite the following for years.
Then a Chinese company copied the copyrighted designs. And sold them through retailers in the United States. Completely undercutting her business. She hired lawyers but was unable to get attention. And her sales dried up, and her business had to close, and talented artisans were out of work.
2- Flaming Counterfeit Machines
The company that employs me has several factories in China. And we started seeing counterfeit products appearing in the markets around the world. They looked like our products, but the serial numbers and codes were all fake. And the products were cheaply made and dangerous. We had patents and trademarks around the world, including in China. We went to the Chinese courts.
And a few months later that counterfeiting business was shut down by the Chinese military. And a photo exists of a grinning Colonel in the PRA, in fatigues, with a flame thrower in his hand, smoking a big cigar. And a huge pile of counterfeit machines was on fire in the background.