There was a lot of talk about the legal stuff in
Chuck's earlier thread about these copycat ukuleles. Ordinarily, under federal copyright and trademark law, a business (say, Disney) would send someone using its proprietary art a "cease and desist" letter and, if the person using the protected art didn't cease and desist, a lawsuit would be filed. Things are more complicated when the person who is wrongfully using the protected art is overseas. I don't know much about this, but overseas violations typically involve treaties. I have an attorney friend who used to work for a movie industry trade association that went after Chinese companies that were pirating American movies and selling illegal DVDs of them. I don't know what, if any, treaties are in place to protect the holders of American copyrights and trademarks, but trying to enforce those rights in China is very difficult.
I say this not as an attorney but as a consumer: I think the best weapon against a foreign company that is pirating proprietary artwork and has a presence in the US is to pressure/boycott its US affiliate, In other words, emails or other correspondence to Ayers America promising to boycott any products it sells in America might pressure the US affiliate to ask the offending foreign company to stop. It might not hurt to also tell the guy who
emailed Chuck to apologize that Ayers Music is, in so many words, a lying piece of crap for having suggested that the copying was isolated when it is clearly more widespread than he suggested. Sadly, some people have to be shamed into behaving better. And just as sadly, people never seem to learn the lessons of the Watergate scandal, which is that the coverup often bothers people more than the original offense.
