LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, L'Oreal SA and other French companies lose a combined US$10 billion a year to copyright, patent and trademark theft, a French official said, pointing to Chinese counterfeiters as major culprits.
France, which had 9.6 percent unemployment in November, loses 30,000 jobs a year because of counterfeiters, said Benoit Battistelli, commissioner of the National Institute for Industrial Property, the French patent office. Fake goods, including about 10 percent of French cosmetics, are valued as high as 300 billion euros (US$392 billion), he said.
"Counterfeiting isn't as risky but is more profitable than drug trafficking," Battistelli said in an interview while attending a Hong Kong conference on intellectual property rights.
"Counterfeiting is a major issue between China and France." Under pressure from trading partners such as the US, China set up a task force last year, headed by Vice Premier Wu Yi (吳儀), to step up the crackdown on counterfeiters. China said on Dec. 21 it would make theft of intellectual property punishable by as much as seven years.
China still isn't doing enough to enforce copyright and trademark laws, former US Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said during a visit to China this month before his tenure ended.
Copyright violations cost US companies as much as US$25 billion a year.
Piracy Curbs China is trying to curb piracy, Li Dongsheng, vice minister for State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said in an interview today at the Hong Kong conference. Rather than sue Chinese companies they suspect of piracy, foreign companies can appeal to the local branch of his agency for redress, Li said.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
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