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发表于 2011-2-25 22:42:58
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刚才看到了这条新闻，心情很糟糕和愤怒。。。
Martin guitar firm fights imitations in ChinaChinese knock-offs bear the Martin logo but lack Martin quality, company says.
Nazareth's C.F. Martin & Co. has put nearly two centuries and plenty of sweat into perfecting its beloved acoustic guitars.
The name has earned a reputation for quality across the music industry, where Martin guitars have been the choice of such famed musicians as Eric Clapton and the Beatles.
So it was particularly galling for Chris Martin, the company's sixth-generation CEO, when China denied the company permission to register its trademark there a few years ago, saying it was too late.
Someone else was selling inferior replicas in China at a fraction of the price, even stamping their stock with the C.F. Martin logo, right down to the "Est. 1833," Martin said Wednesday, turning one of the facsimiles over in his hands to show hairline cracks at the base of the neck.
That particular model retails for about $2,500, Martin said. The imitation was selling for $100 to $600.
The company is fighting to get the rights to its name back in China. But China hasn't been receptive and the U.S. government has been unable to do much about it.
"If you want to make guitars and put your name on it, go for it," Martin said Wednesday at a press conference in Nazareth called to draw attention to the trademark issue. But, he added, "Stop putting my name on your guitars — it's just not right."
Martin said some of his company's customers came upon the inferior guitars at a music industry trade show in Shanghai in October. To the untrained eye, it's hard to tell the real from the fake, though there are cracks and other blemishes that develop in the knockoffs.
Corporate identity theft has been a problem for the music industry in China for more than a decade, since companies from other parts of the world began producing musical instruments there, said Ronald Bienstock, a Hackensack, N.J., intellectual property attorney who specializes in the music industry. The Obama administration raised the issue during Chinese Premier Hu Jintao's January state visit and China has promised to make improvements.
But until changes are made, the International Intellectual Property Alliance, which represents U.S. copyright industries, recommended last week that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative keep China on its priority watch list of countries that don't honor intellectual property rights.
Unlike much of the world, China has a first-come, first-served policy on trademarks, Bienstock said. The person or company that is first to register a brand name there gets to market products under that name, even if they didn't establish the brand or hold the rights to it in the rest of the world.
The company making Martin guitars in China isn't breaking any Chinese laws.
It's unlikely that the sale of imitation Chinese-made C.F. Martin guitars is completely limited to China, Bienstock said. "I'm sure they are getting out of the Chinese borders," he said. A quick Google search turned up several sellers offering "Martin" guitars for $300 to $400.
Martin was joined at the press conference by Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who said he has urged the Obama administration to keep pressure on the Chinese government to respect the intellectual property of U.S. companies.
"It is incumbent upon our government to do everything we can to make sure that we have a very direct and engaged dialogue on this so the Chinese government can change its policy so that you don't have this counterfeiting going on," Casey said.
Casey said he has also urged the administration and written legislation that would require the departments of Commerce and the Treasury to lean harder on China to stop manipulating its currency, because it puts American manufacturers at a financial disadvantage.
It's in the interests of the Chinese government to comply if it wants to maintain a productive trade relationship with the U.S., which is its largest trade partner, Casey said. Total trade between the two countries was $457 billion in 2010.
Bienstock said economics might be the best leverage companies in the music industry and elsewhere have: moving their offshore production facilities to countries that respect their company names. Some have had luck opening factories in countries such as Vietnam that appear to have more respect for trademarks.
Martin doesn't make guitars in China, only at a plant in Nazareth that employs about 500 and at one in Mexico. But the company is hoping to expand exports to China, Martin said.
The company had held back marketing its products there until income levels rose enough to create a significant customer base for the fairly expensive guitars. Even with the imitations, the company has managed to sell $700,000 worth of its products in China. International trade is important to the company, which exported 35 percent of its production last year, Martin said.
"Our biggest export market is Japan; they have a great deal of respect for the Martin guitar," he said. "My hope is that someday the Chinese market will be as robust for us." |
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发表于 2011-2-25 10:48:20
