WOW ! Who would have thought that a game manufacturer would actually be happy with pirated copies and counterfeits of their game.!Turns out when the marketing chief Peter Vesterbacka for Rovio, the Finnish outfit behind the successful Angry Birds, saw the fakes in China virtually everywhere, he was ecstatic!
Certainly intellectual property rights have been a global problem and has ofter sparked friction n China's relations with the United States and others, Rovio takes a new spin to deal world's fastest growing consumer market.
While Rovio is taking a non-traditional approach, issuing a typical warning at some of the blatant and harmful pirates, while seeking ways to to cooperate with others. Legal experts may see the see that the new spin by Rovio may appear to be the un-conventional approach by accepting the reality that China is the world's top source of intellectual property rip-offs and its courts can't always help.
While Rovio has already boated over a billion downloads if the the game, China with 140 million downoads is second within the market to the Unitesd States.
Since going after the pirates in the courts can be quite the fiasco, Paul Chen, Rovio's General Manager China, says the company is concerned about infringement on its intellectual property and does go after some pirates, especially those found to produce harmful goods. But, he adds: "We tend to want to collaborate."
Rovio has even gone to the extent of recruiting some IP infringers to be tactful partners and even offering some of them free ad space on the Angry Birds app.Peter Vesterbacka call it "pirating the pirates".
"This actually can be a successful model," said Xiang Wang, an IP lawyer with the firm Orrick. Makers of shoes, integrated circuit chips and laminated flooring are among those that have successfully co-opted counterfeiters in China, he said.
The firm is planning to unleash a blitz of retail stores and Angry Birds "activity parks" in China starting next month.
Other than this initial strategy, Rovio has plans for to open about 100 retail stores and shops that will sell unique goods and official gear to digital rewards" with in the game.
Reuters mentioned today that reports of an entirely fake Angry Birds theme park had opened in the southern Chinese city of Changsha, in Hunan province, complete with a giant slingshot. Could this eventually become a real Angry Birds park?
"It's not out of the question," said Vesterbacka.
Source and Image Credit Reuters
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