A wonderfully perceptive article from Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics, should be required reading for anyone interested in China's new economy. In a few broad brush strokes, Stiglitz summarised the challenges facing China as it evolves from the traditional economic model that has served it so well in the recent past but is now being questioned -- and not just by hawkish politicians in the west...   more »

China has gone on the counter-attack over the increasingly bitter piracy dispute with the US. The Chinese government says US complaints could damage trade relations between the two countries, although the US seems determined to go ahead with its complaints, one over piracy the other concerning access for foreign music, films and books...   more »

Piracy rates of around 95% create a "major challenge" for any company trying to make a profit in China's film and home entertainment market. Nevertheless, there have been some positive developments recently. China's authorities are taking "meaningful steps" to address the country's IPR shortcomings and there is greater support for the cinema sector... Major western titles are often available to the Chinese home movie fan a month before their official release, at far less than the relatively high cost of purchasing a legitimate DVD   more »

Chinese police recently busted an underground factory making fake Viagra pills, showing that the ingenuity of China's piracy industry now stretches far beyond cheap Louis Vuitton bags, mobile phones and DVDs...   more »

One industry issue that was not touched on at 3GSM last week was intellectual property and the growing problem of Chinese copycat phones. EngagingChina talked to several brand-name manufacturers at the show and found they are less than happy at China's apparent chronic inability to do much to stem the flood of copycat phones...    more »

Mobile music is so last year, we know. Nevertheless, two of the west's biggest music companies have decided that this elusive business model can be made to work in China. But will many of China's mobile users take to the idea of paying to download music to their phone?    more »

Positively our last word on Telecom World and, unsurprisingly, that word is Huawei. At this year's Telecom World, conveniently held on Huawei's doorstep in Hong Kong, the Shenzhen-based company attracted the sort of media buzz once reserved for the top table of western equipment suppliers...   more »

The war of words -- and lawsuits -- between China's and Taiwan's semiconductor industries continues. This time its China's SMIC that is suing TSMC in a Bejing court for alleged "unfair competition" and "commercial defamation"...   more »

London-listed Music Copyright Solutions has set up an Asian subsidiary to acquire, manage and administer ownership of music in China. The timing is somewhat unfortunate, coming just a week after EU trade commisioner Peter Mandelson singled out the country's continuing IPR abuses of intangibles like television and music rights...   more »

Peter Mandelson, the European Union's headline-grabbing trade minister, is on a five-day trip to China and he does not like what he has seen. To be precise, he does not like the abundant evidence that Chinese officials continues to turn a blind eye to the blatant disregard of European intellectual property rights in China...   more »