The unlicensed use of western intellectual property in China has flown to new heights with the launching of the world's first life-sized Angry Birds attraction at a theme park located in Changsha, China (a city of seven million people situated in south-central China). This recent discovery shows Chinese entrepreneurs moving up the "proverbial food chain" - from the discovery of the wholesale counterfeiting of Apple stores last month to the creation of a real-life version of a computer game complete with flying birds and sitting pigs.
The incredibly popular and highly addictive (I don't say that from experience by the way) Angry Birds video game was created by Finnish computer game developer, Rovio, and allows players to use a virtual slingshot to launch various colorful and wingless birds at pigs sitting on or within various structures. The computer version of the game has the distinction of being one of the most counterfeited computer games in China.
Now, unlicensed Chinese uses of Angry Birds have reached new dimensions with the opening of the Angry Birds attraction at the Window of the World theme park. Visitors taking part in the attraction pull back on giant slingshots to launch a variety of plush bird shaped projectiles at balloons shaped like pigs which are placed on various structures. The game is billed as a way to release stress and to help create happiness. I think they might be onto something!
This of course was a surprise to Rovio who had not licensed use of Angry Birds to the Window of the World theme park and it is not clear yet what Rovio's response will be.... Representative of the Window of the World theme park, however, have already (and this is a shocker) expressed an interest in discussing a partnership with Rovio.
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