Introduction

China's implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) is generally characterized as reluctant compliance with externally imposed standards. China seemingly goes against the cultural grain and impairs its own economic interests to introduce ‘strong’ protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), only to safeguard its real trade interests (access to developed-country markets, principally the United States, and WTO membership).

This chapter first sets ‘TRIPs implementation’ in the broader context of China's underlying economic interests, by considering the emerging status of China as a producer, beneficiary and exporter of intellectual property. It then considers how ‘TRIPs implementation’ has been undertaken within the framework of a longstanding programme of domestic legal development, that has been shaped just as much by domestic social and economic imperatives as by reactive compliance with external demands.

Background: IP as a trade issue

The extensive literature on protection of IPRs in China is outweighed by writing on the lack of IPR protection. The issue takes a high profile in China's trade relations. IPR infringement is unquestionably widespread in China. A senior patent office official acknowledges that patent infringement is ‘rather rampant’. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a US-based industry body, claims that: