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Designers Robbed at Gunpoint While SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, TPP Are Busy in Other Parts of the Town

brave new texts

brave new texts

They really got their priorities straight.

Hey, SOPA/PIPA/ACTA/TPP, how about taking care of ACTUAL problems?

A company called Ningbo John and five of its subsidiaries not only blatantly copied Joseph Joseph’s Index Chopping Board, but went so far as to patent it in China, claiming they owned both the design and the brand name. The ballsy step was followed by Ningbo John then producing the knockoff and selling it around the world, earning millions of ill-gotten dollars.

Joseph Joseph's Index Chopping Board

There’s more!

[“T]his was the first time [a Chinese company] dared to register our design and brand name as their own,” explained Managing Director Richard Joseph. “When we challenged them on it they actually threatened to sue us because the products were ‘their’ design! They claimed to customers that they owned the design registration and brand name and therefore could sell the copies, which is just a blatant lie.”

Oh wait, I know—SOPA/PIPA/ACTA/TPP supporters are just too busy stripping authors’ rights on behalf of marauding content industries, cracking filesharers’ skulls, and generally holding us back as a species. It’s like a reenactment of the LAPD from the 90s.

On an side note: I wants it. My precciouss.

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