Taiwan Blockchain Startup Accuses Mainland Chinese Firm of Plagiarizing Logo

McConnell Plans October Revote on Republican Stimulus Package

The Senate’s leader on Tuesday said he plans on returning a Republican COVID-19 relief plan for a vote, after Democrats blocked the bill last month. The $500 billion bill focuses on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), liability protections for businesses, added unemployment benefits, and money for reopening schools. Senators will vote on the bill on Oct. 19, when the full Senate returns to Washington, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement. “We don’t agree with Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi that ‘nothing’ is better than ‘something’ for workers,” he said. “Unless Democrats block this aid for workers, we will have time to pass it before we proceed as planned to the pending Supreme Court nomination.” Pelosi, the leader of the House of Representatives, has suggested in recent weeks that…

Taiwan-based startup HollyGold has accused a mainland Chinese company of stealing its logo to create a copycat firm.

The startup company deals with blockchain technology and its goal is to revolutionize the film and television industry with virtual currency, according to its website. HollyGold’s CEO, Dior Wu, claimed that his company鈥檚 logo and his own image were misappropriated on a Chinese website, according to media reports. He reported the website to authorities both in Taiwan and mainland China on July 28.

Wu has researched blockchain application for years. So far, he has attained three patents in the field. Wu argues that blockchain will be an important technology that will change the business model of the global film and entertainment industry.

Wu’s blockchain technology has caught the attention of Hollywood.

Christopher Bremble and Kevin Robl are working with Wu to issue digital currencies exclusive to the film industry. Bremble is the founder of BaseFX, a three-time Emmy Award winner for visual effects and animation. Robl is a Hollywood financier and member of the President鈥檚 Advisory Committee on the Arts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Robl said in a video for HollyGold that all industries around the world are suffering from the impact of the pandemic and Hollywood is no exception. Given the current 5G wireless technology and streaming service platforms, he believes that if they are combined with the application of blockchain technology, it might be possible to revolutionize the business model of the entire Hollywood industry.

Plagiarism: An Epidemic in Corporate China

Many Chinese companies have been accused of copyright infringement or intellectual property theft in recent years.

In 2018, a Chinese company called Natural Mill in English began opening stores that looked similar in aesthetic and logo as the Japan-based retailer Muji. The Chinese brand used the same kanji (Chinese symbols used in Japanese script)聽 characters as Muji.

A smartphone with the Huawei and 5G network logo is seen on a PC motherboard in this illustration picture taken on Jan. 29, 2020. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)

In another example, in July 2010, Motorola Inc. sued Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies, alleging a multiyear plot by Huawei鈥檚 senior management to steal proprietary trade secrets from Motorola. The lawsuit alleges that a few Motorola employees, including Pan Shaowei and Jin Hanjuan, colluded with Huawei representatives, including Huawei鈥檚 founder Ren Zhengfei, to steal proprietary technology.

Focus News: Taiwan Blockchain Startup Accuses Mainland Chinese Firm of Plagiarizing Logo

‘The $16 Trillion Virus’: Economists Estimate Financial Toll of COVID-19 on US

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and fellow Harvard University economist David Cutler argued in an essay on Oct. 12 that the pandemic will end up costing the United States $16 trillion, around four times the toll exacted by the 2007–2009 Great Recession. “Approximately half of this amount is the lost income from the COVID-19-induced recession; the remainder is the economic effects of shorter and less healthy life,” the two economists wrote in a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, in which they called the outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus “the greatest threat to prosperity and well-being the U.S. has encountered since the Great Depression.” Estimates by Summers and Cutler as to direct economic losses are consistent with earlier projections by the Congressional Budget…