The fascination with declaring intellectual efforts as property begins to captivate the developing world. This story comes from Vietnam where "Viet Nam has 2,790 traditional craft villages nationwide, according to the Viet Nam Association of Craft Villages link here. But the number of craft villages which have registered their industrial property rights, I can count on two hands," said association deputy chairman Luu Duy Dan. Fewer "than 100 out of the 800 specialties are protected by intellectual property rights laws like trademark protection, collective brand names and geographical indication protection."

Unfortunately, the Vietnamese government doesn't seem to have thought about how IP has come to be and whether it serves legitimate public interests. Thus, the monopolists continue to try to spread their tentacles.