By: James M. Cooper
For years, the People’s Republic of China was known as the “Pirate Nation” for its outright theft of Western innovation and acquisition of innovation through mandatory technology transfer from Western companies to Chinese partners. However, this narrative has recently become more complex as China transitioned from an importer to an exporter of intellectual property.
This Article explores two factors driving China’s increased importance of IP rights protection in the last decade. The first factor is the geopolitical competition for dominance in strategic industries that is underway between the U.S. and China. The second is the exponential growth of China’s consumer society. These factors are two significant drivers of the growing importance of IP rights protections in China today, and this Article addresses the challenges they present to China’s international and domestic intellectual property strategy.