China steals "Angry Birds" for theme park

Theme park creates real-life Angry Birds game by Zoomin_UK

Add Angry Birds to the list of Western products and services that have wound up used without license in China.

A theme park inspired by the popular mobile game opened Sept. 1 in Changsha, a city in China's Hunan province, where visitors take turns with giant slingshots that shoot the birds at pig balloons.

This marks only the latest episode in what has been a decades-long struggle to get China to better protect intellectual property. Western critics complain that the country makes, at best, a half-hearted effort because it conflicts with China's development strategy. China has rejected that description as inaccurate.

But the debate goes on. In July, an American blogger living in China reported the existence of two counterfeit Apple stores in Kunming, China. The subsequent publicity forced Chinese authorities to shut the stores down as well as another 22 fake Apple stores that authorities said operated throughout the country.

Angry Birds Theme Park

/ Ye Xiumei

The depth of the divide between the different narratives about copyright protection in China was on full display this week, when People's Bank of China adviser Li Daokui and U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke squared off at a forum sponsored by the World Economic Forum.

"Mr Locke has been an outstanding U.S. ambassador and has faithfully carried the message that the U.S. wants to give to our audience: to protect the economy there needs to be intellectual property protection," Li said. "But I disagree."

Locke replied that if China failed to vigorously enforce intellectual property rights "the full potential of Chinese talent will not be realized."

Back to the Angry Birds. It's unclear how Rovio, the game's Finnish developer, intends to respond. A spokeswoman for Rovio China told the website Mobiledia that it would welcome a partnership. It would seem that a ready-made market exists.

"This [Angry Birds attraction] serves as a method for people to purge themselves and to gain happiness," a park official told the Chinese gaming website Gamersky.com.

[sternhead]

Chinese women are crazy about birds already. Walking on the street, Chinese gals notice and keep an eye on every bird. If birds are in trouble, they protect them. If a bird pecks a Chinese woman on the head, it's usually not that hard of a peck. Also, the typical Chinese woman decorates her home with dozens and dozens of birds. So of course they are attracted to this game.

[Jake_in_Seoul]

Groan, sad to see such an embarrassing bunch of knee-jerk responses. First, the whole "fake Apple Store" discussion, like so much of the coverage of Apple in China, consists of layer upon layer of half-truth. First, as far as I have heard, the major stores in Kunming and elsewhere that were Apple-esque were selling *real Apple products*, including the main one, which *had been* a licensed Apple distributor, but lost the connection, likely for price gouging. It's true there are licensed retailers (such as Gome, Sunning, etc.), but usually they know little about the product and may even have an incentive to steer their customers away from Apple to other brands sold in the same store. When Apple finally expands to major provincial capitals such as Kunming, then the fake stores will face real competition (like the fake Starbucks and KFC ones do, and in my experience, customers tend to shun them). Until then, as long as these stores are selling real Apple products, great.

"China doesn't have creativity"???LOL They may copy outrageously, but anyone who has lived in China, speaks the language, and has eyes in their head will appreciate that most of daily life there has little or nothing to do with imitation of the West. The idea of IP is still a relatively recent and still very slippery one in the U.S. (cooking recipes can be "stolen" with impunity, but software algorithm are somehow held to be sacred), and China will eventually learn the ropes, as have Korea and Japan before them. Meanwhile, I think Rovio should find a way to celebrate the Changsha theme park and find a way to capitalize from it. Millions of potential new customers are being created.^^

[Overruled1]

China will continue to ignore the obvious until it starts to work the other way. Then when their intellectual property starts getting both hacked and stolen, then they will threaten the west with their leverage they think they have.
I will enjoy the day when I read that the west has stolen something from China for once.

[tmittelstaed]

Good luck with that - there is a reason that we outsource software development to India and not China. The Chinese culture beats the spark of creativity out of kids from birth. You cannot write decent software in a culture with no political freedom.

[tsigili]

That's fine......put a new 20% import tax on everything made in China.

[mylilelar]

Ready to pay 20% more for everything you own? I would pay the tax.

[Overruled1]

I would threaten to remove their "favored nation status" to begin with.
I would increase the cost of things China wants the most from us.
I would also multiply the cost of foreign student college tuition, unless we get to use them first as workers in the US instead of sending them back to their homeland to work against our interests.

[endrepubs]

The Chinese don't have an original bone in their bodies. They are nothing but rip off pirates. They have no respect for international copyright laws. The WTO should impose really stiff sanctions on China until they crack down on pirating of copyrights. And to think America has been giving them Most Favored Nation trade status for decades. America needs to put the same tariffs on their stuff as they put on ours.

[SpockV]

"The Chinese don't have an original bone in their bodies". The statement makes many people happy, especially racists. It's also the reason why a country descends and becomes parasites. You can't live off what your parents have created anymore. You have to work hard to compete globally!

[guest173]

When I lived in S. Korea I learned very quickly that many Reeboks and Nikes fell apart in 3 months and that they weren't really Reeboks and Nikes :)

[anonymous010]

I can't really see Rovio as having another option other than to try to ask for a partnership in this situation. Admittedly, I know very little about international copyright infringement laws, but it seems like the Chinese government doesn't care about that particular issue, so they're unlikely to give up the Chinese company to international courts for a lawsuit proceeding.

I really feel for Rovio, cause if I were in their shoes, I'd want to sue the Chinese responsible for ripping off my IP for all they're worth.

[texruss]

I lived and taught in China.. They couldn't come up with an original idea or IP to save their lives there.. How can they say "stealing IP's will help us uncover Chinas potential"? America was created from scratch. Figure it out China, without stealing..

[SpockV]

You may have lived in China in a bubble. You have no clue what China is. People like you are the reasons a country descends and become parasites. America was built on top of European culture long time ago. You can't live off what your ancestor has created anymore. You have to work hard to compete globally!

[dmeyer40]

SpockV

Please share, if you would, your China experiences. Otherwise, shut your repetitive pie-hole.

[dragontats]

The Chinese haven't had an original thought since gunpowder. They even stole communism. The garbage they manufacture is exactly that- garbage. I'm gonna laugh my butt off when their new aircraft carrier sinks. Seriously, "quality" is not in their lexicon.

And, no, they don't "own" the US. Go look at who actually owns most of the US debt, I think you will find that it is actually Americans who hold the majority share.

I seriously say that we should tell China that due to their actions since they were granted Most Favored Nation status, that we are cancelling our debt to them. If they don't like it, go find a different marketplace to peddle your garbage, and the playing field changes as of now. Then, we take the money we just saved and give guaranteed loans to businesses that want to open here to provide jobs to Americans.

It's simple really. China is a nation of liars and thieves, we owe them nothing. They have, via greedy politicians and businesspeople, stolen trillions of dollars from the US.

[riskybusiness100]

Totally 100% absolutely true. A nation of punks and thieves.

[endrepubs]

Maybe America should calculate all the losses our companies have incurred over the decades due to Chinese pirating and copyright infringement and deduct those losses from what we owe them.

[bj70117]

Hello Kitty...I mean Birds...

[canislupus16]

hsinco-2009, your comment reflects something I'd expect from a 2nd grader, or from somebody with an IQ of about 42. But I'm glad you think it's funny - it's good that you are able to entertain yourself