Patents, recipes and the mysteries of China, page-3

Hi Reg,
My personal opinion/ response to your questions. Hope it helps.

- what is stopping someone from China taking PET's IP for themself, given the colourful reputation of IP protection and enforcement there, (other than some apparently well-connected people on the board and share registry);- can a person with the right knowledge use the recipe in the patent to replicate Phoslock or are there special processes and/or ingredients that are kept under wraps;

PET is a bit more than just a formula. It is a company that owns the patent to a product and specialised knowledge and over a decade of experience using it in many different water scenarios. Even when IP law fails, you cannot copy knowledge and experience. The question you can also ask is, why would Chinese government buy a fake product? Just because it is cheaper? Would they buy a cheap product and ask PET engineers to execute them? I would say a definitive 'no' for now. It is a multi billion dollar budget for the Chinese government, time sensitive project, I don't think they want to save a few bucks but end up with a botched project. Sure, they can make nice LV replicas, but why do you think Chinese are still LV's most precious customers? Chinese copy cats are a different league now. They'd rather learn from the trade and create their own version eventually that will surpass the original one (think WeChat vs WhatsApp, Google vs Baidu). It will take time. PET will have at least 5-10 years of advantage over any potential copycats.

Also, I want to add, China is not the sole enemy of patent violation or copy cats - this POV is carefully cultivated by the sinophobics. Guess who came up with the 'windows' concept of computing graphic user interface, making it easy for non-coders to use a PC? The dude who was one of the richest man in the world for decades from that very concept didn't come up with it, but he sure does own it! Which fashion designers came up with using monogram prints for handbags? Louis Vuitton? Gucci? MCM? Who knows and who cares? Copy is part of life, don't get extra nervous just coz China is involved.

Hope this helps.