property organization (WIPO), which is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The majority of United Nations members are members of WIPO. WIPO offers a means of protecting intellectual property across borders and also offers ways of resolving potential infringement issues without going to court. This last point is quite important because, as the writer of Text 2 notes, there is a lot of money involved in intellectual property. Many large firms, particularly technological companies, spend much time and money involved in possible infringement cases.

The two texts here offer opposing views of intellectual property rights and thus reflect the current debate. On the one hand, many people regard intellectual property (ip) as crucial to a company or a product’s success. On the other hand, the high costs involved in attaining any item protected by IP can have a negative effect on the spirit of collaboration and innovation.

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二十一世纪的盗版现象

课文一

现代社会依赖于技术创新，而技术创新须依靠知识产权来保障。越来越多的国家遵守国际条约，实行知识产权保护。但这方面做得还远远不够。我们来回顾一下过去，看看缺乏知识产权保护会导致什么样的后果，从而吸取教训。

Reading B As many Western companies once discovered to their cost, investing in Southeast Asia before the advent of secure intellectual property rights was an expensive proposition. To enter these markets, Western companies had to disclose to authorities details not only of their products, but also of the processes whereby their products were created. The result, all too often, was rapid and blatant copying of goods which were not protected against copyright abuse of this kind.

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许多西方公司付出了惨痛的代价才发现，知识产权保障机制还未健全时，在东南亚投资无异于将钱付诸东流。要进入这些市场，西方公司不仅必须向相关当局说明他们的产品，而且还要说明他们产品的制作过程。而结果经常是本该受到知识产权保护的产品很快被无耻地抄袭。

Reading C There are numerous examples of such copyright piracy from the past. The American chemical giant Du Pont, for example, introduced into one Asian country its famous Londax herbicide, which kills weeds in rice fields. The company had invested millions of dollars in the research and

development of this product, and ploughed another US$25 million into opening a local production plant. Less than one year afterwards, however, very cheap bottles of a fake Londax were openly on sale. The only difference between the fake and real items — other than the price — was that the fake was called Rondex and came in a blue rather than green bottle. However, as it was so much cheaper than the original, it effectively destroyed Du Pont’s investment. It also made the company much less willing to invest in R&D (research and development) of new chemicals. The “recipe” for Londax should have been treated as the intellectual property of Du Pont. For another company to make unauthorized use of it was stealing, just as surely as if they had stolen Du Pont’s machines or any other physical property.

Key Word:

plough…into: to invest a lot (of money) in (something) in order to improve it or make it successful

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盗用知识产权的例子不胜枚举。例如，美国化学制品巨头杜邦向一亚洲国家引进了一种名叫 Londax的著名除草剂，用来除掉稻田里的杂草。该公司在该产品的研发上投资了数百万美元，而且又投入了2500万美元在当地开设了一家生产厂家。然而，不到一年以后，一

瓶瓶非常廉价的冒牌 Londax公然上市了。冒牌产品和正宗产品除了价格外的唯一区别是冒牌产品的名称是Rondex，用的是蓝色瓶而不是正宗产品用的绿色瓶。但是，由于冒牌产品的价格比正宗产品的价格低廉许多，它成功毁掉了杜邦公司的投资。同时它也使得该公司不再愿意投资于新化学制品的研发。生产 Londax的配方本应该被当作是杜邦公司的知识产权。其他非法使用该配方的公司是犯了偷盗行为，就像盗取了杜邦公司的机器或者该公司的其他财产一样。

Reading D It was not only products that were vulnerable — protecting a brand name in the Asian market was once nearly impossible. Even Kellogg’s, the manufacturers of the original Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, found themselves competing with a product superficially similar to their own: Kongal Cornstrips, which even came in a near-identical box. Unfortunately, as in the Du Pont case, Kellogg’s chances of successfully prosecuting the copyists were virtually zero, because local law did not adequately recognize the concept of copyright protection.

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不光是产品，在亚洲市场上保护一个品牌也曾经是几乎不可能的事。就连 Kellogg’s玉米片的生产商 Kellogg’s公司也发现自己的产品被山寨：Kongal 牌玉米条，连包装也几乎一模一样。不幸的是，