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sell to contract
designers, furniture
stores, big boxes and
Internet retailers who
want finished work. This
example, however
simplified, illustrates the
market.
Traditionally, even
though most publishing
companies looked
askance at these low-
end producers, as there
were few of them. They
always were aware of
piracy of their images.
Over the years, there
have been many heated
exhibitor to exhibitor
exchanges and
exhibitors engaging
show management.
Aggrieved parties were
looking for an immediate
cease and desist of the
other company selling
their copyrighted work.
Most often, they were left
wanting as show
producers could not act
as a with legal authority
even when the knock-
offs were obvious.
The dissatisfaction many
publishers with the
situation led to the
formation of the Art
Copyright Coalition,
www.artcc.org. Many in
this group are also
members of the Art
Publishers Association,
you are participating in
the Decor Expo and
ArtExpo markets, you
should consider joining
for your own sake and to
strengthen these
organizations.
Firsthand accounts from
Atlanta repeatedly told of
The China Syndrome (continued from page 4)
knock-offs this year that
were most egregious.
Police were called to the
Georgia World Congress
Center to take reports.
Another consensus was
that some of the work
was actually good. Angry
publishers and artists
who saw knock-offs of
their copyrighted work
being openly sold at the
show took no consolation
in the quality of the work.
Piracy is a considerable
problem in doing trade
with China. Below is a
quote from an March
2005 article in Inc.
magazine titled, How
China Will Change
Your Business:
“Piracy is a problem.
Foreign companies have
little defense against
even outright theft of
their technology in
China. China's failure to
police intellectual
property, in effect,
creates a massive global
subsidy worth hundreds
of billions of dollars to its
businesses and people.
By investing in the
country's manufacturing
infrastructure, by
providing the expertise,
machines, and software
China needs to produce
world-class products, the
world is also helping
assemble the biggest,
most sophisticated, and
most successful "illegal"
manufacturing complex
in the world.
Seen another way,
China's loose intellectual
property rules turn the
tables on the Western
colonial powers and the
Japanese who
throughout the
nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries
violated China's land and
people. As China grows
into a great power, the
wealth transferred into
the country by
expropriating intellectual
property will propel it
forward.”
You can read the entire
article free here:
While the Decor Expo
show spotlights the
situation on the low end
of the art market, there is
growing evidence that
contemporary fine art by
Chinese artists will make
a major impact on the
that end of the market.
Prices for top echelon
Chinese artists are on
the rise at shows and
auction houses.
Given China’s enormous
population and the sheer
number of art students it
annually produces, it is
almost a given master
painters will rise from
among them. Some to
dominate the art scene.
It’s been said the 20th
Century was the
American Century and
the 21st Century will be
the Chinese Century. If
that is true, then certainly
the visual arts will feel
the effect Time will tell.
What can you do? First,
make sure your work is
properly documented,
Page 5
copyrighted and
registered at:
Second, get involed with
the Art Copyright
Coalition. Third, realize
you have to be popular
and successful before
this going to be a
problem for you. If you
are still building your
business and your dealer
network, it’s something
to be aware of, but not to
spend great energy on.
Finally, when you have
done what you
reasonably can to protect
and defend your
copyrights, don’t obsess
over transgressions.
Move on to creative and
productive pursuits. Life
is too short to be mired in
muck.
Attention ABC News’
20/20 & John Stossel
In what can only be
described as a
dichotomy is while
U.S. businesses of all
sorts are fighting
piracy from Chinese
manufacturers, the US
Cultural Property
Advisory Committee
(CPAC) is considering
a request from the
People’s Republic of
China that the US
restrict import of all
Chinese cultural
materials predating
1912. China says is
increasingly subject to
pillage and smuggling.
The request raises
objections from both
the US market and
scholars in the battle
for its approval
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