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Sanders, Anselm Kamperman --- "Intellectual Property Law and Policy and Economic Development with Special Reference to China" [2007] ELECD 245; in Eger, Thomas; Faure, Michael; Naigen, Zhang (eds), "Economic Analysis of Law in China" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Economic Analysis of Law in China

Editor(s): Eger, Thomas; Faure, Michael; Naigen, Zhang

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847200365

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Intellectual Property Law and Policy and Economic Development with Special Reference to China

Author(s): Sanders, Anselm Kamperman

Number of pages: 33

Extract:

10. Intellectual property law and policy
and economic development with
special reference to China
Anselm Kamperman Sanders

1. INTRODUCTION1

Few areas of law have known such a rapid growth in importance as intellec-
tual property law has. Not so long ago this area of law was practised by a few
specialists only. Even now, some of the finer aspects of the acquisition of
patents and trademarks form the exclusive prerogative for specialist agents.
Still, with the advent of the information age, intellectual property law has
come crashing down on the oblivious business and legal community and is
now pervading everyday life. With the elevation of intellectual property (IP)
law to the world stage through the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade-
related aspects of the intellectual property rights (TRIPS) treaty, IP law has
become prominent in the political arena, where part of the discussion seems
to centre on the neo-colonial tendencies of the Western world.
In today's business game in the world market, where production is moved
to low-cost countries, licensing intellectual property appears to be one of
the tools to exercise continued control. Where high investment know-how
and information becomes the prime ingredient of today's modern products,
which are cheaply reproduced in mass, intellectual property becomes the
prime method to ensure a high return on investment. It comes as no sur-
prise, then, that in the global economy intellectual property law has gone
global too. Treaties, harmonization efforts and the WTO framework all
contribute to ...