Gyroscopic Investing

Officially, Flaming Lee hunted counterfeiters for Swiss power technology giant ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. Unofficially, she herself sold counterfeit ABB circuit breakers for export — the very things ABB was paying her to track down.
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Wang Hai, founder of Beijing Dahai Business Consultancy, said he once was barred from raiding a company that made counterfeit windows, even though he had a police escort. "The government has a list of protected companies," Wang said. "They were on that list."

dualstow wrote: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/99d87da8 ... estigators

Officially, Flaming Lee hunted counterfeiters for Swiss power technology giant ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. Unofficially, she herself sold counterfeit ABB circuit breakers for export — the very things ABB was paying her to track down.
...
Wang Hai, founder of Beijing Dahai Business Consultancy, said he once was barred from raiding a company that made counterfeit windows, even though he had a police escort. "The government has a list of protected companies," Wang said. "They were on that list."

Libertarian666 wrote: Would you trust someone named "Flaming Lee"? 

Tyler wrote: After seeing dozens of Chinese factories first-hand, this is completely unsurprising.

In my experience, the issue is more fundamental than corruption.  It's part of the culture.  One simply cannot expect a country that does not recognize personal property or individual rights to simultaneously respect intellectual property.  Communism fosters a completely different mindset.

A coworker once talked to a factory owner who completely and unabashedly ripped off another company's products all the way down to the brand and logo.  The remarkably genuine reply when asked why he did this: "That company is successful.  Why should I not also be successful?" 

"Because they earned it" would have gone completely over his head.  It's not that he was a bad person -- it's simply a concept he wasn't raised to appreciate.