Ducking copyright(2)

Legal quagmire

Although the imitation ducks have been criticized by some media outlets like the Xinhua News Agency and the People's Daily, law experts said it was a complex problem in terms of legal procedures.

"The original designer's copyright was infringed when other designs resembled it and made people believe the two designs were related, but for such a commonly seen image like a duck, the court might take a while to define how exclusive Hofman's duck is," Zhao Wu, an intellectual property lawyer, told the Global Times Friday.

Long Ni, a Taobao toy shop owner, told the Global Times that she did not see any copyright problem selling the yellow duck, as she has been selling small rubber ducks for use in children's tubs in her shop since 2006, before Hofman's duck arrived on the scene.

Hofman's concept of a yellow duck traversing global oceans belongs to him, but the other ducks did not copy that idea, Zhao said.

Four other popular Taobao toy shops gave the Global Times similar reasons, adding that they had registered their trademarks for the rubber duck toys at the local bureaus of commerce.

Zhang Dongguang, another lawyer, said Hofman could use trademarks or patent rights to protect his work from being copied.

"But in order to be protected as an exclusive trademark or patent, the designer should first apply and get approval from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce," Zhang told the Global Times, adding that with so many factories and Taobao sellers copying the duck image, it would not be realistic to sue every one of them.

Tastes like duck

Gu, the curator of many modern art exhibitions, went to Hong Kong to see the giant Rubber Duck.

"It could bring many people, who loved toys and animals in their childhood, back to that state of mind and it also creates a contrast with the cold and hard skyscrapers in the background," Gu told the Global Times.

A spokesperson from AllRightsReserved, the somewhat ironically named company that invited the duck to come to Hong Kong, said that those copying the duck didn't understand its meaning. "We think all these counterfeit ducks came about mostly because of a lack of understanding of this artwork and the creative intentions behind it," the spokesperson said, adding that the artwork was based on innocence and optimism.

Although Hofman said he was not amused by China's giant ducks, the two-storey high rubber duck in Wuhan, which is much smaller than the original, still attracted many visitors.

"Copying has become a habit and people become lazy because they can rely on other's work that has proven successful. They gradually lose their creativity, with more people unconsciously accepting copied things," said Zhang Yiwu, a culture expert with Peking University.

Huang Rui, a pioneer of China's modern art scene, said the appreciation for such a simple duck reflected shallow tastes. "Many young people, attracted by such a simple piece, can not appreciate complicated art like opera, paintings or literature, due to a severe shortage of art education," Huang told the Global Times. "The worst thing is we don't even have artists creating designs to meet these simple needs. Instead, we only have profit-seeking businessmen good at following successful models," he said.