It's a good thing His Airness has lawyered up already to take on the Qiaodan Sports Company, since his name is used by more than one company in China. Twitter user Chassit has stumbled upon Jordan's Chinese name being used by a company calling themselves the nonsense name of Qiaodan Tailang (乔丹太郎), which translates as 'Jordan Taro'. The company specializes in selling baby clothes, ties, socks, and swimwear, to name a few of the items in their catalogue. more ›

Michael Jordan has had enough! The former Basketball Jesus and current Charlotte Bobcats owner filed a lawsuit in Beijing today against Qiaodan (乔丹), a Chinese athletic shoe and apparel company that has blatantly used the Chinese transliteration of Jordan's surname for years. more ›

As with other companies that have seen their logos and trademarks hijacked by Chinese companies, Apple now risks losing control over selling its iPad tablets in China, after a Shenzhen court ruled the multinational tech-giant guilty of copyright infringement. more ›

Fujian province-based Niubanlun Sportswear Company and Shanghai Tibo Business Consulting Company are being taken to court by US-based sneaker manufacturer New Balance for using a similar trademark. more ›

Shanghai-based tech entrepreneur and Tudou co-founder Marc van der Chijs was recently flabbergasted to find a picture of his daughter, Elaine, used without permission on the packaging of Halloween products on the shelves of Carrefour. He and his wife called up the company and told them to remove their daughter's picture from the packaging... or else! more ›

Last month, international media had a field day when an American blogger in Kunming discovered a fake Apple store that showed an unusual level of fidelity to the original. But as anyone who's been to an electronics market in China knows, this isn't exactly news. However, there's a new well-conceived copycat concept in Kunming that's caught our attention this week: none other than Swedish furniture-for-lazy-people giant IKEA has received the royal shanzhai treatment! more ›

A group of writers and publishers, including Han Han, have gotten together to collect compensation from the likes of Baidu and Apple for selling their work without permission. more ›

Last week, Yao Ming announced that he has begun legal proceedings against Wuhan-based Yunhe Sharks Sportswear Co. for trademark infringement. For years, the sportswear company had been using Yao Ming’s brand to sell sneakers. It is unknown how much in damages Yao Ming is looking for. more ›

Alas, Baidu's ill-gotten intellectual property gravy train is coming to a screeching halt. more ›

There's been lots of rumours lately that literary bad boy and professional rally driver Han Han is going to write about Baidu's disrespect for copyright in his first column for the NYT. In his latest blog post, Han Han looks at all the victories that Baidu's been winning in court, and wonders aloud if CEO Robin Li's dad is Li Gang. Hilarious!

Yesterday, negotiations between several publishing industry representatives and Baidu broke down. In the early stages, Shen Haobo, Lu Jinbo and Hou Xiaoqiang had told me on various occasions that Baidu has been causing damage to the entire publishing industry, to which I responded: “Let’s sue them”. They then said several cases had been brought against them, none of which were won. Baidu has plenty of money and access, in effect they pretty much control the courts. They also have first rate public relations capabilities, so in addition they control what is being said about them by most media outlets. I sighed and wondered: “Could it be that Robin Li’s dad is Li Gang?” more ›

Expo organizers will be paying US$3.2 million for plagiarizing a pop ditty by Japanese singer Maya Okamoto, reports Epoch Times. The Expo promotional song Right Here Waiting For You 2010, which premiered on television April 1, was found to be roughly 95 percent identical to Okamoto's 1997 song Stay The Way You Are and thus suspended by April 19. While Japanese Internet users and media outlets are having a field day proclaiming China as a "nation of plagiarists," we doubt Okamoto was at all incensed -- aside from the compensation, this whole song scandal has only helped her flagging career and provided publicity for her upcoming album. more ›

Imitation may well be the greatest form of flattery but China have failed to charm Russia with their new J11-B Fighter jet. Of course, it doesn't help that China rejected the Russian Sukhoi-Su-27 design, challenging its ability to meet their requirements. Good job the latest Chinese release looks nothing like the original Russian version then...
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In a not too surprising turn of events, Microsoft 7 has been "released" early to the Chinese market. The New York Times reports that a week before the official Windows OS release date, electronics markets all across Shanghai are bursting with copies of the new software for around just 20RMB, not to mention that the software has been available on Taobao for weeks already. Microsoft has already lowered the price for their software to reflect Chinese wallets, but at 399RMB, its still 20 times more expensive than its pirated counterpart. While we'll be good kids and buy the real version, we bet locals will have a hard time justifying 399 yuan versus 20 yuan when it's practically the same thing. That's like a different of 379 baozi! more ›

• Trade Group Rules Against China’s Limits on Media Imports [NY Times] "A World Trade Organization panel ruled on Wednesday that China had violated international free trade rules by limiting imports of books and movies, in a decision that buttresses growing complaints from the United States and Europe about Chinese trade policies. The W.T.O. decision in Geneva is a victory for the United States at a time when a growing number of business executives and politicians perceive China as becoming increasingly nationalistic in its trade policies."
• Heavy Metal Warfare [Caijing] "Seven-year-old Liu Bingqing died in December 2008, two years after he was diagnosed with cadmium poisoning. In Xinma Village, Majiahe Township, Zhuzhou City, in central China's Hunan Province. Liu was not the first to die from contact with this toxic, bluish-white metal, a by-product of zinc production. In early 2006, the sudden death of his fellow villager, Luo Shaokun, had already sparked cadmium-related health and environmental concerns. A government-administered physical test found excessive levels of cadmium in the urine of more than 1,100 Xinma villagers, with severely excessive levels in 200 residents. "
• China's Cancer-Causing Factories [CBS News] "Deng Dingfu is living out his final days wracked with the pain of lung cancer - lung cancer blamed on toxic pollution, reports CBS News Correspondent Celia Hatton. "My doctor asked me if I live near a chemical plant," he said. In fact, he lives very close to one. The Red Butterfly Chemical Factory lies right in the heart of central China's Yong Xi village. Since 2002, the plant has processed strontium carbonate, a powerful substance used in color TV screens. Dozens of people describe how the factory's waste is making them sick. Many say they've developed painful rashes from the village water. Several people have been arrested for speaking out. But locals showed no fear when a plainclothes police officer confronted a CBS news crew. The angry crowd eventually drove him away. "

Chinese premier leaves Beijing for European tour [Xinhua] more ›

China Tech News reports that about 80 copyright holders will be ganging up on Tudou for copyright infringement. Some of these companies in the alliance include Joy.cn, Beijing Polybona Film Distribution, Beijing Orange Sky Entertainment Group and SFS Emperor and are said to be suing for RMB10 million. Tudou is a video sharing website that is bigger than YouTube in China showing 1.2 billion videos each month including bootlegged versions of TV shows and clips from Hollywood movies. Tudou, possibly in response to this suit, will be launching a reporting system for copyright owners after Spring Festival that they are currently testing. Of course the alliance could be fishing for some of that $85 million they raised in funding, most of which is apparently just sitting in the bank. more ›

This photo is from Warner Star Park, an amusement park that has been set up next to the Lu Xun Park in Hongkou district. According to Hongkou's local government this park will be open daily until the end of August. We think the combination of Tweety Bird, Batman and Scooby Doo sounds like a lot of fun, although we are not entirely sure about the copyright here. It reminds us a little about Beijing's Shijingshan Amusement Park, doesn't it? more ›

• The city's environmental work now focuses on drinking water. In one year, if things work out according to plan, Shanghai's water is supposed to be good enough to drink directly from the tap. City officials say that this vision will realized with the completion of the biggest reservoir in Shanghai, the Qingcaosha Reservoir, close to Chongming Island and a new pipe network. Could this be the beginning of the end for bottled water?
• A campaign to get more expats to donate blood has been started by the The Shanghai Blood Centre in a move to build up reserves of uncommon blood types. Rare types such as Rh negative are more common among Westerners than Chinese, and stocks of this blood type are often scarce. So if you know you have a rare blood type, donate ! If you don't, do it anyways.
• Chinese universities are gaining in status, though none of them have yet reached the world's top 100 list. At the top of this year's Top 100 Asia Pacific list, however, we find Shanghai's well known Jiaotong University, up from a previous 14th place.