■ IPR Protection
Strokes cost Dow Jones
A Chinese court has ordered Dow Jones & Co to pay a Chinese calligrapher US$50,000 in a dispute over its use of one of his Chinese characters as its corporate logo in China, a lawyer for the company said. The case was an unusual collision between art and commerce. Guan Dongsheng drew the character at the request of Dow Jones employees as a gift to the company chairman in 1994. Guan filed suit this year, saying he retained rights to use his character "dao," which sounds like Dow. The company said Guan gave oral permission to use the character, but the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court rejected that argument in a ruling on Monday, said a lawyer for Dow Jones. "The court believed that there was insufficient evidence that there was an oral contract,"the attorney said. "It told Dow Jones to stop using the character and to pay 400,000 yuan [US$50,000]." The attorney said Dow Jones had not decided whether to appeal.
■ NYSE
Reed to be interim chief
Former Citicorp chief executive officer John Reed will take over as interim chief of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Sept. 30, replacing Richard Grasso who stepped down after criticism over his US$140 million compen-sation package, reports said on Monday. Reed agreed to come out of retirement to lead the effort to find a permanent replacement for Grasso, who oversaw the world's largest equity market since 1995, reports said. Reed is credited with revitalizing Citicorp in the 14 years he ran the com-pany. He retired in 2000 following a power struggle with Sanford Weill, the former Travelers Group chief executive with whom Reed shared Citigroup's top spot for two years.
■ Aviation
Singapore inks air deal
Singapore and Australia inked a deal yesterday to remove remaining restric-tions on flights between the countries but stopped short of an "open skies" agree-ment that would allow Singapore Airlines to fly nonstop between Australia and the US. A full "open skies" agreement was put off to help Qantas survive the current volatile business climate because it is "not government-subsidized like other airlines," said John Anderson, Australia's deputy prime minister and transport minister. A broader agreement "can be considered again when there's greater stability in the global aviation environ-ment," he said. Currently there are more than 400 flights a week between the two countries, according to Singapore Transport Minis-try figures. Yesterday's signing removed any remaining restrictions on the number of flights and destinations the two countries' national airlines can fly to in each other's territories.
■ Shipbuilding
Daewoo wins navy contract
Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co has won a 130 billion won (US$112 million) order to build a destroyer for the South Korean navy, the Yonhap news agency said yesterday. The warship is scheduled to be launched by 2006 and deployed by 2007 as the fifth ship in the navy's KDX-II series, the report quoted Daewoo officials as saying. Daewoo beat rival Hyundai Heavy Industries Co, the world's largest shipbuilding company, to win the contract. Hyundai had built the second ship in the series and is already making the fourth.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2