Month: July 2016

In my last blog, I talked about Taiwan’s history of weak intellectual property protection going back to the days of the “ingenious rascals”, the industrial-scale book pirates of Chungking Street in the 1950s and 1960s, but also about the remarkable change that has taken place in recent years as it has climbed the ladder of creativity and innovation. At the same time, I noted concerns expressed by the US copyright industries over a “stalling” of Taiwan’s progress in terms of protecting IP, particularly copyright. How serious is this stalling, and what factors are at play? Nothing happens in isolation. The intellectual property situation in Taiwan is affected by broader political developments internally—and has to be viewed in the context of its challenging relations with China. Continue reading “Copyright in Taiwan: the China Factor”

Taiwan, 23 million people, lives in the shadow of its huge cousin on the mainland, China (the Peoples’ Republic), population 1.3 billion…more or less. In many ways Taiwan years ago was a microcosm of what China is today, and is today what China may one day become. There are many elements to the complicated and complex Taiwan-China relationship, and copyright is just a tiny slice of that relationship. But it is illustrative. Continue reading “From the Pirate Booksellers of Chungking Street to Taiwan Today (Taiwan Blog #1)”

In my blog last week, I talked about the growing role of China as an essential revenue generator for foreign content producers. The most recent projections indicate that China will become the world’s largest film market by revenue as early as next year. This offers great opportunity for foreign content producers, notably the Hollywood studios, but throws into relief the range of market access restrictions imposed by China, despite its membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Foreign content producers, particularly in the area of films, would dearly love to remove or at least whittle away at these barriers. There will be an opportunity to do so in 2017 when a US-China agreement on films comes up for renewal. Continue reading “China and the Content Industry: Friend or Foe? (Part Two)”

Chinese Box Office: Global No. 1?

In the 2015 edition of its global media and entertainment outlook for 2016-2020, PwC reported that China’s box office growth will “see it pull ever nearer to the US”. PwC estimated that China’s box office revenue would rise at a 15.5% cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR), moving from US$4.31bn in 2014 to US$8.86bn in 2019 as its cinema-building boom continues and rising disposable incomes make the cinema more affordable. Fast forward to June of this year, and PwC is predicting that China’s box office will replace the US as the world’s largest film market measured by box office revenue as early as next year, reaching revenues of US$10.3 billion in 2017, moving to revenues of $US15.08 billion by 2020. Continue reading “China: Friend or Foe of the Content Industry? (Part One)”