Copyright cheats can face death, says expert
INFRINGERS of intellectual property rights are vigorously pursued by mainland officials with some cases yielding the death penalty, according to a leading investigator in the field.
''Enforcement and monitoring is the same as anywhere else in the world. That you cannot do anything about infringement in China is a myth,'' Pinkerton Consulting and Investigation Services vice-president Simon Cheetham said.
The size of the population made the problem seem out of proportion, he said, speaking at the Asia Law and Practice intellectual property seminar yesterday.
Even if only 20 per cent of the population was engaged in illegal imitation, it would still need a large number of officials to deal with it in a country with a population of more than 1.2 billion, he said.
Still, some cases were more seriously regarded than others. Counterfeiting of food, drink and medicine was treated seriously enough to warrant the death penalty, Mr Cheetham said.
A man and wife team were caught making mock batches of the fiery Chinese wine Mao Tai last year. The husband was sentenced to death.
Mr Cheetham said the present trend was that the manufacturing of fakes was carried out in China while the brains behind the schemes were based in Hong Kong or Taiwan.
When shutting production down on the mainland, Chinese laws applied. The brains behind the scheme were charged under the legal system wherever the company was registered, he said.
''In China there are two channels to tackle infringement. One is through administrative action. The second is to take the trademark user to the People's Court, but this has rarely been done,'' said Fairbairn Cutley Low and Kong partner Grace Chu.
Once a case has been determined, authorities could seize counterfeits, confiscate property and impose compensation fees and fines.
