rant on .... LOL
Yes Yamaha, Toyota, et all copied.
Even the US company WT Armstrong copied Keilwerth horns to make them in the US with cheaper US labor costs. Though did not mark them as Keilwerth, but as their own horn.
But in China you have to have a partner to build your stuff for you. You also have to release patents to them.
They then sell the stuff out the back door.
This is just another level. In China copying an item is not considered a problem, they consider it good that you copy a problem to exact details, even cars
http://www.carscoops.com/2012/02/china-jac-does-it-again-with-ford-f-150.html
or even a bunch of other cars ==>
http://www.carscoops.com/2011/09/oh-chinayema-auto-presents-clones-of.html
It was believed that copying was a way of learning, showing admiration and respect.
I agree it is a way of learning, recreating a process is definitely a way of learning. After all, in the beginning there was only ONE saxophone maker. Then someone else copied the design, and so on and so on.
But in China patents is another thing altogether with it's problems.
a nice long article about patents in China, and lack of international enforcement ==>
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...g-iconic-designs-flogging-fraction-price.html
The problem is, you don't want to publish your patents to the Communist China patent office. Because they'll probably use them, if they haven't already stolen them electronically lol.
Of course, you know, they copy towns too ==>
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23067082
But copies are one thing, as long as they are not labeled as another product. Which, just looking at the car examples above is something they are willing to do at a much larger scale.
Until international patents mean something in China we'll see more and more of this problem.