Intellectual Property Rights Protection in Post-WTO China: Still an Incurable Blight on Sino-U.S. Trade Relations?

Abstract

Inadequate protection of foreign intellectual property rights (IPR) in China has tainted Sino-US. trade relations over the past thirteen years. These disputes, which on numerous occasions almost resulted in trade war, have ironically also prompted a relatively sophisticated legal framework for IPR in China. China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has, moreover given further momentum to the construction of a state-of-the-art IPR regime. However, according to the U.S. Special 301 Report 2002, China’s WTO entry has so far not produced the expected results in terms of protection of foreign intellectual property in China. Note that while the effort for WTO compliance helps repair China’s institutional deficiency to a larger degree, it can barely affect the economic rationale behind IPR infringement. Therefore, enforcement of IPR laws needs to be tightened, otherwise, the IPR protection issue could reappear to taint the Sino-U.S. trade relationship even in the WTO era.