Piracy + Trite society; China copies US/JPN cars freely

[quote=“cctang”][quote=“ShrimpCrackers”]Theres no adequate comparison to China in the number of WTO complaints.

I mean granted, I’m pretty sure there are at least 100 people guilty of trademark violations in the USA (heck everytime you sing Happy Birthday), but thats still not comparable in scale.[/quote]
I suggest yet again that you know not of what you speak.

The US has been the target of far more WTO complaints than China.[/quote]

like I said earlier,

Shrimpcrack can b*-*h and whine all he wants about Chinese WTO and IP violations.

When all is said and done in his free time, Taiwan is still not independent and technically an Unincorporated US Territory destined to return to Chinese jurisdiction as pointed out by Richard Hartzell in his peer-reviewed papers. :bravo:

I stand by my earlier point. Innovation happens in more ways than the design of physical objects. Exactly what intellectual property has Walmart used in building its empire? If I was to start CCTangMart tomorrow, and emulated the Walmart business model (if not the actual brand)… would you accuse me of behaving immorally?

Again, I think society has a very good reason for encouraging the protection of trademarks and intellectual property. It gives all of us a profit motive for continued development and innovation. That’s the only purpose IP protection serves. There is no definition of natural law, no biblical statement from any religion, no concept of karma that views “copying” as being a moral crime. Contrast that to the way every civilization views stealing of tangible assets, murder, etc.

Note that my attitude on this doesn’t apply to out-right forgeries. Impersonation of another man’s brands + identity is no different than out-right stealing. It’s no different than dressing up in your clothes and collecting your paycheck. But that’s not what these Chinese automakers are being accused of, is it?

The United States has the world’s most accomplished (and tested) system for protecting intellectual property. This shouldn’t be a surprise, since the United States is the origin and destination of much modern innovation. Again, if the Chinese automakers can get their products sold in the US, then it should be above all suspicion of illegal behavior.

Well Geely and Chery have plans on entering the USA market.

However GM has open a lawsuit against Chery stating that their brand name is too close to “Chevy.” Hence, Chery will be known as Visionary in the USA.

Visionary is slated to start sales in the USA in 2007. Headed by a guy named Bricklin, who brought Subaru and Yugo to the USA. So 50-50 track record behind the guy.

Geely is slated to start sales in the 2008.

I see these two brands following the footsteps of Hyundai and Kia. They will enter the market with low priced vehicles and slowly move up scale as they develop their customer base. Either they succeed and become like Hyundai or they fail and get bought out like Kia.

These companies will probably stumble the first 3-5 years in the US market, but these guys won’t go away. The domestic Chinese market is just way too big, and these companies are already very competitive in that domain. Geely and Chery both sold 20,000+ cars in Jan 2006, with annual sales 200k+… and are getting close to passing the much larger joint ventures. They could be doubling in sales every 18 months for the next 15 years.

I think Geely will get off to a better start to Chevy in the US. Bricklin sounds more slick than skilled, and I prefer Geely’s measured growth plan.

China Seeking Auto Industry, Piece by Piece

By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: February 17, 2006

CHONGQING, China, Feb. 16

Very interesting, thanks for posting this info…

Surely Chrysler/BMW will block this acquisition though… Gifting the Chinese this type of technology at any price would be shooting themselves in the foot… I doubt the major players are too concerned however, the Chinese are completely at the mercy of other established auto makers it seems, since like the article says the Chinese do not have the capability to develop their own engines, they need someone to give them the technology… Surely it would be in the interests of all major auto makers world wide to make sure they stay out of the loop…

I don’t think it will be that easy to keep them “out of the loop”
Retired employees can be hired on as consultants.

I mean it was only 3 years ago PRC didn’t have a steel mill that could produce quality steel for auto production. Presently they do have the ability.

The same thing was said of the USA compared to Europe during the Industrial Revolution.

Acquiring technology and advancement are based people desire and optimism, not on conforming with status quo of established market leaders. If that’s the case Japan should have never overtaken USA in TV technology. And South Korea and Taiwan should have never overtaken Japan in LCD flat panel display.

Keep in mind that this factory is already selling its manufactured engines to Lifan. From BMW + Daimler/Chrysler’s point of view, the only change we’re talking about is Lifan’s willingness to pay upfront capital to take ownership of this thing. It doesn’t change BMW + Daimler/Crysler’s competitiveness world-wide at all, at least not on a time horizon that these businesses plans for. Compare that to the $$$ that will affect their corporate bottom-line from day one.

From Lifan’s point of view, on the other hand, this saves them 3-5 years and immediately gives them a competitive product in a range of development markets.

It’s a great deal from both sides.