A Comprehensive Overview of Intellectual Property Rights in China

This essay provides an overview of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in China, focusing on the legal framework, challenges, and recent developments. It discusses the historical context of IPR theft, the strategic system implemented by the Chinese government to acquire foreign technology, and the resulting issues faced by foreign companies. The essay highlights amendments to China's IPR laws, the establishment of specialized courts, and measures taken to protect foreign companies' IPR. However, it also acknowledges the challenges in enforcing these laws due to factors like the increasing volume of trademarks and the need for foreign companies to remain vigilant. The essay concludes that while China is progressing in IPR protection, effective strategies and enforcement remain crucial for safeguarding foreign companies' intellectual property.

Intellectual Property Rights in China
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Intellectual Property Rights in China..............................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
The laws relating to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of any country must be strong enough
to protect the rights of all companies having IPR’s. From a long time, it has been noticed that
IPR’s of foreign companies are being stolen in Chinese markets. Here, the precautions to be
taken and recent developments relating to IPR’s have been discussed.
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Intellectual Property Rights in China
In China, Intellectual Property Rights have been acknowledged and protected under People’s
Republic of China. It has accepted international conventions for protection of intellectual
property rights. The national law governing intellectual property rights in China are Patent Law,
Trademark Law and Copyrights Law.
There has been widespread news relating to stealing of intellectual property rights by Chinese
companies. The western companies by investing in Chinese market were able to take advantage
of cheap labour available in China and therefore were able to generate higher revenue. As a
return of favour to foreign companies, Chinese government planned and established a strategic
system where the foreign companies intending to enter Chinese market can only enter on
condition that such company must agree to enter into Chinese market by partnering with local
companies in China and shall transfer skills and knowledge to local market in China. Through
this, China was able to market products with high technologies which are manufactured with
non-Chinese technologies or ideas. This has eventually led to theft by Chinese companies of
Intellectual Property Rights of foreign companies. An example of such theft can be a compliant
by Obama administration filed with WTO for use of its innovation policies in wind power
industry. Other complaints have also been lodged against China for stealing Intellectual Property
rights of foreign companies from time to time (Friedmann, 2017).
These problems primarily arise because the laws relating to IPR are not very much in favour of
Foreign companies in China. Further, there is also problem relating to effective implementation
of such laws. However, China has been continually developing its laws relating to IPR’s since
1990’s. The most recent amendments to China’s IPR laws have been made in year 2017. A
nationwide campaign was launched last year in China for protection of IPR’s owned by foreign
companies. Under this, several measures were announced that China is intending to take for
protection of IPR’s of foreign companies investing in China. Three specialized courts for
Intellectual Property were also established in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou followed by ten
more such tribunals in second tier cities in China in 2017. The main objective of these courts
tries cases relating to infringement of patents, computer software’s, technical secrets and other
cases relating to anti-trust and trademark issues. The outcomes of these courts have also seen a
positive attitude towards protection of IPR’s by lowering burden of proof and awarding damages
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to plaintiffs. Measures like evidence preservation and preliminary injunction have also been
developed (Perkowski, 2012).
With such developments and amendments in laws, China has proved that it recognizes the
importance of protection of IPR’s of foreign companies. However, the enforcement of these
developments and amendments is still facing challenges in terms of implementation. One of the
reasons for such challenges faced in implementation is increasing crowd in trademark space.
The foreign companies are also advised to take certain precautions when entering Chinese
market with businesses involving IPR’s and in filing cases relating to infringement of such
rights. Starting from collection to evidence to outsourcing investigations and notarisation of
evidence collected, foreign companies must ensure that they do not miss any important facts and
case related matters.
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Conclusion
It can be concluded that China is developing its IPR landscape to provide protection to foreign
companies. However, the holders of IPR must remain vigilant in Chinese market. The strategies
and enforcement of IPR remains the key for safeguarding IPR’s owned by a foreign company.
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References
 Friedmann, D., 2017. IP in China: Moving closer to the common law system for the sake
of uniformity. Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice. Vol., 12 (8). Pp. 621-
622.
 Perkowski, J., 2012. Protecting Intellectual Property Rights in China. [Online]. Forbes.
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackperkowski/2012/04/18/protecting-
intellectual-property-rights-in-china/2/#56c2b1b62c6f [Accessed on 10 July 2018].
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