Piracy in China isn't just DVDs and designer knockoffs. It's epidemic and

[WhiteTara]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/hornbrook/20060410.html
This is a fairly long article with some fascinating info about what ideas and technology is being stolen...everything from cars to pharmacueticals to an entire company. These guys are fearless.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/hornbrook/20060410.htmlThey aren't subtle at the Xiang-yang market in Shanghai.

Within a block or two of the city's thriving – and mostly illegal – "copy market," there's a good chance you'll be approached by young women who barely speak English, offering to take you to a stall with the best DVDs and watches and designer clothes and accessories. They'll lock arms with you and drag you along. Being polite doesn't work. What does work is a stern face and repeating "Tso-kai" – the equivalent of "Get lost" – over and over again.
snip

GM may be struggling to stay solvent in North America, but it has been doing quite well as one of the first major automakers to set up in China. A few years ago, company engineers noticed an uncanny resemblance between a GM compact designed for the South Korean market and a vehicle rolling off the assembly line of Chinese automaker Chery. An investigation showed the two vehicles were almost identical.
snip

With piracy so rampant in China, it's often hard to tell which products are the real thing and meet standards expected by the marketplace. Automakers have been sourcing parts from Chinese factories for vehicles they build around the globe. While legitimate factories produce parts that meet company and government specifications, that's often not the case with unlicensed parts.

Investigators have discovered exploding spark plugs and unsafe brake pads produced in unlicensed factories. As well, windshields purporting to be safety glass, which shatters harmlessly on impact, have turned out to be ordinary glass that could be deadly in an accident.

[rockymountaindem]

1. You know, if corporations put any emphasis on quality

outsorcing wouldn't be an issue. I can't imagine what kind of savings would tempt an American firm to put up with this crap overseas when they could take advantage of the good market and regulations we have here. All it takes if for one person to get shredded by some POS windshield like that and start a lawsuit. Then maybe GM et. al. will be wishing they stayed in a country with some little things called patents and quality control.

[aquart]

2. Nuh uh. Tort reform.

[rockymountaindem]

3. Oh yeah, forgot about that

Well, maybe it would take more than one person, but you see where I'm going. Besides, I thought the so-called reform we've gotten so far was only for medical malpractice.

[Deja Q]

4. The culture of life. Cherish life. That's what the politicians in power

say.

The4y also have openly supported offshoring.

Sad.

[cantstandbush]

5. They have to be very smart people, don't they?

Why reinvent the wheel. And if you are smart enough to make good copies...well, makes them pretty good capitalists to me.

[sutz12]

6. I worked a lot of years for a small but important telecom..........

We built some core equipment for cell sites during the boom.

We toyed with a joint partnership with the Chinese for a while. We soon learned, however, that they didn't really want our products as much as they wanted our technology. The core of our product included some proprietary technology that was vital to the function. If you don't get that part right, the stuff just wouldn't work right.

Bottom line, once we really got the feel for what they wanted, we built them a prototype that didn't really work very well. The whole deal fell through, I don't believe we ever shipped that piece of crap.

This isn't new at all. My story happened back in the late 80's early 90's, when China was just opening up.

They have no concept of intellectual property rights at all. You deal with them at your peril.

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. I am shocked that the people that brought us Tianamen Square

are stealing American technology and intellectual property. Shocked!