The Economist

Chinese companies are enforcing patents against foreign firms

FOR over a decade Schneider Electric of France has bombarded a Chinese firm, Chint Group, with lawsuits accusing it of copying its technology. But the tables turned on April 15th when the two companies settled an infringement case—with the French firm forking over $23m to Chint. The rich settlement against a foreign firm is a landmark.

DVRs were supposed to undermine television. They have done the opposite

TEN years ago this week a black box was demonstrated at a broadcasters’ convention in Las Vegas. TiVo’s digital video recorder (DVR) was expensive: the cheapest model cost $499. But it was hailed as revolutionary. It was much more flexible and easier to programme than a videocassette recorder.

European companies hope to prosper from railway mania in the Middle East

RAILWAYS have not made much news in the Middle East since Lawrence of Arabia blew up the Hijaz line in 1918. But bosses in the $165 billion global rail industry have been flocking to the Gulf lately, lured by the prospect of an investment boom.

Is China souring on the dollar?

CHINA is America’s largest creditor. Thanks to a policy of piling up foreign-exchange reserves and investing most of them in dollar assets, China’s government bought around one quarter of the net increase in Treasuries over the past two years. But just as Washington needs to sell record amounts of debt to fund its soaring budget deficit and to bail out its banks, there are signs that Beijing’s appetite for American debt may be shrinking.

As Tata Motors unveils the Nano, emerging market multinational corporations are looking stronger than ever.
Tata Motors, an Indian company that is part of the Tata Group multinational, introduced the Tata Nano last week in Mumbai. The Nano is billed as the world’s most affordable car, and has the potential to put automotive transport in reach for millions of households in the developing world.

Politicians and citizens are outraged at the misdeeds of the wealthy. But governments should use the crisis to fix capitalism, not rail against its biggest beneficiaries. 
As part of its special report on “The Rich,” The Economist notes that the global credit bubble which led to the current financial crisis also brought a great inflation of the incomes of the world’s wealthiest people.

Broadcast television is declining at an accelerating rate 
The NBC hospital drama, “E.R.”, recently broadcast its final episode after 15 years on television. This marks the end of an era for one popular show, and also is a harbinger of broader changes in American TV broadcasting.

How Yuzaburo Mogi of Kikkoman turned soy sauce into a global product 
Kikkoman is a family-owned Japanese company, founded in the early 17th century, that is now the world’s leading manufacturer of naturally-brewed soy sauce.

Supporters of same-sex marriage see hope in the Midwest – and Vermont. 
California recently passed a referendum banning marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, and 29 states have passed constitutional amendments defining marriage as between one man and one woman. But in Iowa, on April 3, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Hawkeye state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, in violation of the equal protection clause.

Most Americans like having a leader whom foreigners adore. But some wish he was feared a bit more ...
President Barack Obama recently completed his first extended trip abroad since taking office. He attended the G20 summit in London, hosted a town hall meeting in Strasbourg, made a speech in Prague on nuclear disarmament, and visited Turkey, an important U.S. ally and an influential Muslim nation.