China Once Stole Foreign Ideas. Now It Wants To Protect Its Own (economist.com)
- Reference: 0180810916
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/26/02/17/1550222/china-once-stole-foreign-ideas-now-it-wants-to-protect-its-own
- Source link: https://www.economist.com/business/2026/02/09/china-once-stole-foreign-ideas-now-it-wants-to-protect-its-own?taid=32f71dff-f41e-4018-919f-4d988061d35f
The problem runs from knockoff "Lafufu" plush toys (cheap copies of Pop Mart's wildly popular Labubu dolls, which prompted a nationwide crackdown and a Shanghai police bust of a $1.7 million stash in July) to copied motorcycles and solar panels. Judges in Shanghai, the preferred venue for IP litigation, are working through cases at a rate of roughly one per day, and it still takes three months for a case to land on a court's docket.
Chinese companies are also increasingly clashing abroad: patent-related cases involving Chinese businesses in America surged 56% in 2023, according to data from GEN, a Chinese law firm. Luckin Coffee and Trina Solar have both filed suits against foreign-based copycats.
[1] https://www.economist.com/business/2026/02/09/china-once-stole-foreign-ideas-now-it-wants-to-protect-its-own?taid=32f71dff-f41e-4018-919f-4d988061d35f
Yes, the building is on fire. Don't panic. (Score:3)
This is an interesting topic, and one with precedent. It turns out that the United States was accused for many years of stealing inventions from the UK and other European countries (IIRC: starting with the industrial revolution and its relationship to fabric production), and as its economic dominance emerged, its IP protectionism grew with it. It has long been predicted that China would take a similar path, and while it does mean (with extra thanks to trump) that the sun is rapidly setting on the US empire, we shouldn't freak out about this. The correct course of action (as exhibited by China) is to invest heavily in education, modernization, infrastructure, and strategic subsidies. Unfortunately, the US is currently investing in corruption, culture wars, and nihilism instead, but we must assume that these errors are correctable and worth correcting.
Re: (Score:2)
Skeptical. The US has always had strong IP law- whether you are foreign, or not.
A foreign national could sue an American in US court, and win.
In China, this simply was not the case.
It's now becoming the case. The US did not have any period of time where it was the case. Copyright and Patent protection are literally baked into its founding document.
Re: (Score:2)
Bah- *did not have any period of time where it was not the case.
Re: (Score:2)
yes, the US is investing in being awesome by legislating having to repeat "I'm awesome" as often as possible, making saying "I'm not awesome" come with real consequences
let's see how it works out
Chinese bloody invented nerve-splicing (Score:2)
Give me the mainland for a nerve job any day. Fix you right, mate
The Business Plan (Score:3, Insightful)
Steal until you have it all, then hire a security guard.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Following the footsteps of the U.S.. Started without copyrights or patents while they used all the foreign ones without payment. Then when they built up enough that they wanted to protect their own they amended the constitution to add them.
Re: The Business Plan (Score:2)
The part about copyright comes before the amendments.
The laws have changed but the constitution has had it as available from the start.
Re: (Score:2)
Copyright and patent protection bare literally baked into the un-amended Constitution.
I get it- America touched you in the bad place. It's fine to be mad at it for that. But just making shit up to make yourself feel better about it? That's weak sauce.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, this is hilarious - a communist regime that once thought nothing about intellectual property, until they discovered that they have some that they'd like to monetize