Chinese Court Rubber Stamps Fiat Panda Clone
Remember how an Italian court recently banned Great Wall's GWPeri from sale in Europe for too closely resembling Fiat's Panda? Well, the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court sees things more… sympathetically. Fiat had sued Great Wall in China as well as Europe. But the legal battle has been lost on the eastern front. Reuters reports that the Chinese court dismissed patent infringement claims against Great Wall, ordering Fiat to pay $1,290 in court fees. Fiat is "evaluating its options" (read: figuring out who to bribe), posing petulantly for the press. "We acknowledge the Chinese court decision notwithstanding we point out that it goes on the opposite avenue vis-a-vis a resolution taken on July 15 by a court in Europe on the same issue," say Fiat spokesfolks. Great Wall, on the other hand, is using this as one of those "no such thing as bad publicity" opportunities, letting everyone know that it will start selling a pickup in Italy later this year. What, you thought all that cheap labor didn't have its price?
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pwned=owned, Same thing What I can't figure out is how so many companies keep going back for the abuse? Is it some sort of thing like people not leaving abusive spouses or something? I think it's even worse. It's one thing when you love someone, and then they turn out to be abusive. But how do you marry someone that everyone KNOWS is going to beat you? I runaway from stocks when they announce big initiatives that involve investments in these countries. Just sell your stuff to a distributor for cash, and let THEM deal with the issues. And while you are at it, make them buy a bond against their country letting someone rip off your intellectual property.
I don't think Chinese courts have ever ruled in favor of a foreign company over a domestic company in any such disputes. Also, remember that China is still philosophically a communist country which has only a very restricted view of personal (or corporate) ownership of physical assets ... let alone "intellectual property".
psar, I understand your pet peeve, but it makes me wonder. Has there ever been a an actually communist country that did not flip into autocracy? I can't think of one. How about a libertarian country?