The Happiest place in Jersey-Kai

January 23, 2005 at 4:47 pm · Filed under Random McNally

Asia has a real “problem” with Intellectual Property. Copying runs rampant and there is little to no legislation designed to prevent it. There are various theories about why the area is like this, from the effect of communism, to the Buddhist dismissal of the existence of originality, to the simple fact that the government structure is too small to even try. Regardless, it is ingrained in the culture at this point (People without a chinatown in their town will take my word for it).

As an apologetic Disney Apologist, and a IP/?/© student I am absolutely enthralled by this picture tour of a Bangkok theme park I have renamed InfringementLand.

The similarities are defiantly there, but even under US law (the letter, certainly not the spirit or the enforcement) this is not as illegal as it appears. For example, a sleeping beauty castle at the center of the park is very evocative, but conceptually it is all from the public domain story, not the protected Disney movie (well, the carriage clearly is from the movie, but because you’re theirs, they walk the line). Isn’t “ADVENTURELAND” about the most generic name imaginable for Adventureland? Yet there is a ton of secondary meaning.

And of course, even amongst all of the (near)infringement you have Pepsico shoving in a KFC. SUGH.

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