IPR Guru on How Internet Businesses Create & Ease IPR Conflicts in China

The battle over the role of intellectual property rights in China is a complex one that shows no signs of easing. Sam Yu, a pioneering attorney working in China's IPR field, sheds light on how Internet business both creates and eases IPR conflicts.

Shanghai (I-Newswire) October 19, 2012 - The battle over the role of intellectual property rights in China is a complex one that shows no signs of easing. Never has the topic been more important than with the expansion in importance of the Internet.

As part of its ongoing series providing business intelligence and experienced China market expertise, Z.H. TANK speaks at length with Sam Yu, a pioneering attorney working in China's IPR field. Over the course of an hour, Yu raises, and answers, the most important issues facing IPR development in the world's fastest growing, and most IPR-chaotic, country.

Yu begins by pointing out that the battle over IPR predates the Internet, and that the Internet is not a natural enemy of IPR. Yu illustrates this with the example of the tape recorder and how that once IPR-hostile technology turned into a boon for IPR owners.

Groundwork in place, Yu switches the focus of his address to the Internet and how its development in China is changing business models and landscapes and how it both creates and eases IPR conflicts.

Over the course of an hour, Yu goes into detail on challenges (both technical- and moral-wise) facing IPR in China, including -- if hyperlinks could be considered infringement, the boundaries of P2P sharing, lurking concerns in software and how the age of cloud computing will assign responsibility for IRP leaks.

Yu also addresses how China's winner-takes-all environment encourages unfair competitive practices. This culture of "no number two" is especially brutal on China's heavy-hitting video sharing sites, with all of the leading brands being what Yu refers to as "frequent defendants" on court.

Meanwhile, Yu lays out the reasons why China's existing IPR problems are not the result of bad laws, but instead of a failure to incentivize enforcement.

In a section outlining practical how-to aspects of IPR protection in China, Yu points to best practices for overall strategic planning that will safeguard rights--including copyright and domain name registration, trademark and patent applications, and business confidentiality. He also answers the question of how to cope with an infringement.

Yu also includes several case studies that incorporate observations from his personal involvement in some of China's most notable IPR cases. These cases include Dianping verses Aibang and the MTV domain name conflict.

More importantly, Yu warns of a brewing patent war that China will experience in the next half decade. This battle, he predicts, will enjoin all of China's Internet brands. The causes, and solutions, to this war are addressed in his later remarks.

ABOUT SAM YU:
An attorney at Beijing’s Sam & Partners Law Firm, Sam Yu has for years offered expertise on both the academic and practical applications of intellectual property law in China. He is among the few attorneys that have been personally involved in China's most impactful and complicated IPR cases in the past decade. He is also a member of the Policy and Resources Committee of the Internet Society of China, the Legal Committee of China e-Commerce Association, and an expert commentator for China Central Television’s Business Channel.


Media Contact:
Lan SHEN
Z. H. STUDIO
lan.shen@zhstudio.net