Posted
March 31, 2007
Torrance company says Web site was copied
Manager for LED bulb maker says Chinese firm's
online home was nearly identical except for name and contact info.
By Muhammed El-Hasan
STAFF WRITER
Last week, a customer in Sweden e-mailed Torrance-based
LEDtronics Inc. to ask if the LED light bulb maker was located in China.
The customer explained that he had been searching the
Internet for LED bulbs when he came across a Chinese Web site nearly
identical to that of LEDtronics.
The Torrance company's answer was an emphatic no.
The Chinese company, Jiaxing Chuantian Lighting Co., was
using a nearly identical copy of LEDtronics' Web site, said Jordon
Papanier, the Torrance firm's marketing manager.
"Copying is a form of flattery, but I'd rather be
flattered in other ways," Papanier said. "They really were
impersonating LEDtronics. It was a mirror site. Just their name and
contact information was added on every page." By Friday, the Chinese
site was down, but only after Papanier had spent about 10 days trying to
contact every person and institution he could think of.
This included the Chinese Embassy in Washington, the
U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the U.S. State Department, search engines,
various international associations and the Chinese firm itself.
"Just today it was mysteriously gone," he said
of the Web site.
Papanier said that it was clear that the Chinese firm
had taken LEDtronics' Web site because the Torrance firm's meta tags were
attached to the Chinese site. Meta tags are text hidden in a Web site to
help search engines categorize them.
The Chinese company, in the Haiyan Technology Industrial
Zone in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, could not be reached Friday for
comment.
According to the Chinese supplier directory,
TradeBIG.com, the Chinese firm was founded just last year to make LED
bulbs.
LEDtronics was founded in Torrance in 1983.
Confusion between the two Web sites could create the
impression that LEDtronics is not based in the U.S. This would hurt the
Torrance company's brand, which is based on U.S. design and manufacturing,
he said.
"Secondly, they suddenly have a well laid-out Web
site (to) try to steal market share," he added.
Stealing ideas and other intellectual property is common
in China, said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County
Economic Development Corp.
"Intellectual property rights in China really don't
exist," Kyser said. "You have a huge problem with piracy of
entertainment and software. But this is the first time I've heard of a
company hijacking a Web site."
China has become an economic powerhouse with its ability
to make products at low cost. Yet, government enforcement of copyright
laws has trailed far behind economic growth.
The Chinese government has begun to crack down on fraud
and corruption.
"But it's going to take time," Kyser said.
Link to: Daily
Breeze
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