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Yu, Peter K. --- "Intellectual Property Reforms in China" [2009] ELECD 581; in Meléndez-Ortiz, Ricardo; Roffe, Pedro (eds), "Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development

Editor(s): Meléndez-Ortiz, Ricardo; Roffe, Pedro

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848446458

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: Intellectual Property Reforms in China

Author(s): Yu, Peter K.

Number of pages: 14

Extract:

3. Intellectual property reforms in China
Peter K. Yu1

INTRODUCTION

In the past two decades, China has been heavily criticized for its inadequate protection
of intellectual property rights. Every year, US industries are estimated to have lost bil-
lions of dollars due to piracy and counterfeiting in the country. As the International
Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) stated in its recent Special 301 Report, copyright
piracy in China resulted in US$ 3.5 billion of US trade losses in 2008 alone (IIPA, 2009).
Of particular concern is the considerable quantity of infringing products that have been
exported to other foreign markets. To protect its industries, the United States recently
requested the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to
establish a panel to determine whether China has failed to comply with the Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).2 The panel
report, however, yielded only mixed results.
Although China was fittingly criticized for its piracy and counterfeiting problems, it is
important to recognize and appreciate the considerable amount of intellectual property
reforms the country has undertaken in the past two decades. Since the reopening of its
market to foreign trade in the late 1970s, China introduced its first modern copyright,
patent, and trademark laws (IIPA, 2007). A decade later, China revamped its intellectual
property system in response to US pressure and did so again in preparation for its acces-
sion to the WTO (Yu, 2000; 2006a). Today, China is a proud member of many ...