China is a market that represents a paradox for many telecoms, media and technology (“TMT“) companies. On the one hand it offers the promise of almost unlimited growth potential if you get the product right, but on the other it presents huge challenges from the regulatory and compliance perspective in terms of establishing a foothold in the market. The challenges include market access restrictions, data localization requirements, to name but a few. The market access and intellectual property protection issues in particular have been the focal point of the ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and China.
The good news is that China has and is likely to further relax restrictions on foreign investment in the TMT sector, regardless of the outcome of the trade war, although it is clear that such relaxations will be implemented to China’s timetable and may not go nearly far enough in terms of meeting the expectations of foreign investors. We have prepared this Guide to help investors understand the challenges and benefit from the opportunities in this rapidly-growing sector.
We’ve included a specific chapter on IP which deals with the following questions:
- What kind of intellectual property rights are protected under Chinese law?
- How can IP rights be obtained in China?
- In what situations may the IP owner lose the IP rights?
- How to protect and enforce IP rights when an infringement takes place
- Why is protection of IP rights important for doing business in China and what should I do?
Please click here to download our full guide.