[W.]

Back in the late ‘70s I worked as a line mechanic at a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership. I went to overhaul an automatic transmission from a Mitsubishi pickup truck. Got it on the hoist, and saw—on the outside at least—it looked like Mopar’s A904 Torqueflite. Upon disassembly, to everybody’s curiosity, it was a 2/3-sized replica. Bet Mitsubishi at least paid the license fee.

[Spktyr]

Mitsu and Chrysler did a lot of cross licensing in the 1970s. Starting with Dodge Colt back in IIRC 1968 - it was a Mitsu Colt given to Dodge to sell.

[katana]

You would probably lose that bet. The Japanese do not have the most spotless record for business ethics and adherence to international laws protecting IP. But the Chinese are in a different class entirely. They have no regard whatsoever for western business ethics and international law.

And they have been greatly assisted by the fact that accountants with MBA's have been running most American companies for the past fifty plus years and to them quality much less the value of employing a work force at wages that allow them to buy the company's products are entirely alien. At a business seminar in Shanghai a presenter told us that at best, after allowing for the costs of setting up production, shipping product back to the USA, etc. an American company operating a plant in China will save 25% on their US production costs. That's in spite of the huge difference in labor costs.

Twenty five percent is a huge figure to someone trained to look for pennies saved and who has all the empathy for their fellow countrymen as a snake has for a rat. Or that once a Chinese factory has begun production upwards of ninety percent, unreported to the US partner, goes out the back door under a different or even the same pirated label. If one knowingly goes into business with a thief who is to blame when one is robbed?