Near-identical car sparks new Chinese piracy fears

By Ben Blanchard

SHANGHAI, June 27 (Reuters) - Foreigners have long railed against pirated software and CDs in China. The latest complaint? Copy-cat cars.

Automakers in the country's booming vehicle sector, frustrated with what they deem intellectual property theft, suddenly face a new threat: the copying of cars, which take anywhere from $500 million to $2 billion to design from scratch.