I was asked to participate in a meeting regarding Intellectual property rights while I was at the Golf Asia 2012 Show. The meeting had participants from a variety of the golf industry including management, builders, architects and sod growers.
The issue that was discussed is not only a concern in China but around the globe. The best way I can describe it is that various entities of the golf industry have the rights to specific intellectual property. That property can include items such as golf course designs, photos of golf courses, patents, sod varieties, etc. The rights to share those items are being violated and it is illegal and unethical.
The purpose of the meeting was to inform all the participants of what is happening in the industry and possibly finding ways to pursue control of issues regarding intellectual property rights. I must admit I was aware of some of the potential violations but had no idea of the depth of the problem. Items that are being abused are things such as use of pictures of golf courses that are sold commercially. Sod varieties that are developed from divots or sprigs into black market nurseries that may be contaminated and such is also a problem. Imagine all the golf simulator machines that show the design and pictures of holes without the permission of the golf course owner or architect. Fertilizers and other chemicals also are being copied and sold with the same or similar labels but surely are not manufactured by the people with the original patents.
Jim Prusa suggested a list of 5 ways to address the issue of abuse of intellectual property rights. Those items were:
- Education of the industry as to the issues
- Information communication as to the impact of such abuses
- Mounting a PR campaign to show the effect of violation of IPR
- Gaining support of the various governments to provide support in this effort
- Legal remedies as well as self-policing of our industry
It was proposed that an educational program and panel discussion should take place at upcoming industry meeting in Brunei.
Ideally you will be reading much more on this topic in the months ahead. I learned a lot in just an hour or so and will be following this closely.
