Intellectual property (IP) law has been widely discussed in recent scholarship, though many recent works explore the topic from a largely descriptive perspective. This book provides an analytical and comparative study of Chinese and European IP law, as well as an analysis of system reforms in China. The book highlights, in three parts, intellectual property for innovation and creativity in China, comparing concepts and norms in Chinese and European IP law, and governance of practices and IP enforcement. Demonstrating that the governance of IP rights requires the adoption of a set of norms, the contributors also argue that success is dependent on a transformation of the perspectives and implementation. Students and scholars of IP law, and Chinese IP law in particular, will find this book to be a valuable resource to their work. It will also be of interest to IP practitioners looking for an insight into system reforms in China.

This book analyses how China has engaged in global IP governance and the implications of its engagement for global distributive justice. It investigates five cases on China’s IP engagement in geographical indications, the disclosure obligation, IP and standardisation, and its bilateral and multilateral IP engagement. It takes a regulation-oriented approach to examine substate and non-state actors involved in China’s global IP engagement, identifies principles that have guided or constrained its engagement, and discusses strategies actors have used in managing the principles. Its focus on engagement directs attention to processes instead of outcomes, which enables a more nuanced understanding of the role that China plays in global IP governance than the dichotomic categorisation of China either as a global IP rule-taker or rule-maker. This book identifies two groups of strategies that China has used in its global IP engagement: forum and agenda-related strategies and principle-related strategies. The first group concerns questions of where and how China has advanced its IP agenda, including multi-forum engagement, dissembling, and more cohesive responsive engagement. The second group consists of strategies to achieve a certain principle or manage contesting principles, including modelling and balancing. It shows that China’s deployment of engagement strategies makes its IP system similar to those of the EU and the US. Its balancing strategy has led to constructed inconsistency of its IP positions across forums. This book argues that China still has some way to go to influence global IP agenda-setting in a way matching its status as the second largest economy.

. . . the editors of this book have done an excellent job, and both academics and practitioners will find this book worthwhile and enjoyable. Wei Shi, Communications Law China s accession to the WTO and TRIPS heralded massive changes in Chinese intellectual property (IP) law. This book asks whether all aspects of Chinese law and practice are now TRIPs compliant. The study offers both Chinese and European perspectives. Examining substantive IP law in detail, the contributors conclude that the changes have been far reaching and TRIPS compliance has been achieved. They also argue that China s IP laws are now addressing the new challenges of the digital revolution and the global economy. Of equal importance is enforcement, and in this respect the book reveals that change started later and that further work remains to be done. The book highlights the important efforts that are underway and the undeniable progress that is being made. All these issues are placed in an international context, where the development agenda is becoming more important and where the discussion on the renegotiation of the TRIPS has started. The contributors include leading members of the Chinese judiciary, as well as academics, politicians and practitioners from China, Europe and Canada. The approach taken to the subject combines academic rigorousness with political realism and the practical needs of operating an effective law enforcement and judicial system in a vast and rapidly developing country. This book will be warmly welcomed by IP academics and researchers, policy makers, R&D departments around the world and investors in China.

Over the past three decades, China has transformed itself from a stagnant, inward, centrally planned economy into an animated, outward-looking, decentralized market economy. Its rapid growth and trade surpluses have caused uneasiness in Western governments, which perceive this growth to be a result of China's rejection of international protocols that protect intellectual property and its widespread theft and replication of Western technology and products. China's major trading partners, particularly the United States, persistently criticize China for delivering, at best, half-hearted enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) norms. Despite these criticisms, Zhenqing Zhang argues that China does respect international intellectual property rights, but only in certain cases. In Intellectual Property Rights in China, Zhang addresses the variation in the effectiveness of China's IPR policy and explains the mechanisms for the uneven compliance with global IPR norms. Covering the areas of patent, copyright, and trademark, Zhang chronicles how Chinese IPR policy has evolved within the legacy of a planned economy and an immature market mechanism. In this environment, compliance with IPR norms is the result of balancing two factors: the need for short-term economic gains that depend on violating others' IPR and the aspirations for long-term sustained growth that requires respecting others' IPR. In case studies grounded in theoretical analysis as well as interviews and fieldwork, Zhang demonstrates how advocates for IPR, typically cutting-edge Chinese companies and foreign IPR holders, can be strong enough to persuade government officials to comply with IPR norms to achieve the country's long-term economic development goals. Conversely, he reveals the ways in which local governments protect IPR infringers because of their own political interests in raising tax revenues and creating jobs.

After exploring multifaceted issues of IPR enforcement, this book argues that the problems with it are not an actual outcome of Confucian philosophy and "to steal a book" is not an "elegant offence." This book demonstrates that counterfeiting and piracy are inevitable consequences of inadequate economic development. It goes on to state that they are a by-product of a unique set of socioeconomic crises that have their origin in a dysfunctional institutional regime.

This book explains China’s intellectual property perspective in the context of European theories, through a critical examination of intellectual property theory and practice focused on China’s compliance with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The author’s critical review of contemporary intellectual property philosophy suggests that justifying intellectual property protection through Locke or Hegel’s property theories internalizes a theoretical paradox. “Professor Wenwei Guan’s treatment of intellectual property law and practice in the PRC offers new perspectives that enrich an already active field of study . . . This book will be a useful contribution to academic and policy discourses examining conceptual and operational dimensions of China’s intellectual property protection system and the broader process of China’s international engagement.” – Dr. Pitman B. Potter, Professor of Law, University of British Columbia, Canada “Dr. Guan reminds us of the daunting challenge of the public-private divide in forming and reforming TRIPS regime; how this regime has failed to address development needs and public concerns in developing countries like China; and how TRIPS’s ‘birth defect’ can be overcome and its evolution can be put back on the right track.” – Dr. Yahong Li, Associate Professor at Faculty of Law, Hong Kong University

For some time now, there has been conflict concerning the role in the global marketplace of certain agricultural or handcrafted products of specific geographical origin: whether they should come under trademark law (as favoured by common law countries such as the United States) or under the geographical indications (GI) system developed in France and subsequently promoted by the European Union (EU). At this moment, China is in the eye of the storm. Taking fully into account the legislative and judicial gaps in China’s compromised embrace of the GI concept, this book shows how the Chinese case brings to prominence fundamental issues relating to the functional dissimilarity between trademarks and GIs, the treatment of the terroir concept, the role of GIs in rural development, and the challenges of adopting the French and European model in other countries, especially in East Asia. Providing detailed information on how GIs are registered, protected, and managed in China, France, and the EU, the book includes such practical analysis as the following: comparison between the Chinese and European GI systems to highlight differences in essential elements for GI registration and protection; mistakes and errors arising from forcing the GI function into trademark law; the increasingly larger scope of EU GI protection, protection of collective marks containing GIs, and the extension of GI protection to handicrafts; who is responsible for the protection of each registered name and who can sue for infringement; and legislative options for future GI protection in China. Recognizing not only that GIs protect consumers against fraud and producers against unfair competition but also that the goals include the preservation of rural development, cultural heritage, and traditional knowledge, as well as environmental and ecological protection, this book provides a comprehensive reference on legal tools available for policymakers, legal practitioners, researchers, and local producers concerned with GI or trademark issues in China, France, or the EU. It will prove greatly helpful to corporate lawyers filing international registration applications and taking legal action. It will also be of inestimable value to officials in a variety of countries that are considering developing or improving systems to enhance the value of terroir products, and to academics interested in intellectual property law, trademark law, agriculture policy, GI legislation, or World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.