- Mr. Wu Dongping – Secretary General of the China Trademark Association
- Mr. Lin Lingshe – Vice Chairman of the China National Textile and Apparel Council/Chairman of China Industrial Textiles Association
- Ms. Helene Juramy – Trade/IP Officer, Delegation of EU to China
- Mr. Eiichi Yamanoto – Director of IPO Department (Japan)
- Various China IP Experts including Mr. Christopher Shen (Co-Chair of INTA GAC China), Dr. Du Ying (Professor Central University of Finance and Economics), Ms. Lou Li (Trademark Director of
- Kuaishou Group), Mr. Ray Zhao (Co-Chair of INTA GAC China/Senior Partner of Unitalen).
I have to admit, it was nerve-wracking – not just because the setting was like a movie award ceremony, but also because the presentation needed to be delivered in Mandarin Chinese and after living in the US for nearly 20 years, my Chinese is a bit rusty. So I was quite self-conscious speaking in front of such a highly educated group, including government officials. It also didn’t help to calm my nerves that my head alone showed up 10 times bigger than the other speakers on the screen (see pictures below). Right before our session, we were notified by the host that there were over 13,000 people joining online. The sheer number of people participating and interested in learning more about international IP was stunning — I felt like I was experiencing a mini-celebrity moment, just like my beloved Peloton instructors.
It was a fascinating seminar, and the discussion went “deep”. It was humbling for me to hear so many IP policy makers, attorneys and inhouse businesspeople in China who were not only familiar with the fundamental differences between the Chinese and the US/Western systems, but also were able to articulate such differences in a way that makes sense and is relatable to their clients, 99% of whom are companies based in Greater China. I see posts on LinkedIn and articles from the media every day. For the most part, they are quick to criticize and point out China’s flaws, and those criticisms do have some validity.
My experience at China Fashion Week, however, reminded me that we all should beware the “Danger of a Single Story.” Just as the popular TEDTalk points out (available here on YouTube), we need to be careful in defining a culture or a country in one single story. China/Asia is not a country or a region synonymous with IP theft. Not all people from China or from Asia are trying to take a shortcut or make a quick profit from IP theft. In fact, during this seminar, there were at least 203,000 people (14,000 from ZAKER platform, 437 from WEIZAN, 189,028 from XINLAN) who were trying to understand IP rights and make a difference in the IP world, in the hope that the world will one day view China (and Asia generally) differently from an IP perspective. It is factually correct that China is currently the largest exporter of counterfeits, but let’s hope that’s not the definitive story of China nor of Asia. The eastern giant is trying to wake up and there are smart, hardworking and tireless people behind it.
