Imitator to Innovator: China’s Two-Pronged Approach to Intellectual Property

Abstract

In a globalized world where the free-flow of creative thinking and new ideas carries a price tag, intellectual property (IP) plays a pivotal role. To lay ground rules and standardize intellectual property rights, members of the global community have devised international bodies like the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and agreements, such as the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), to protect and monopolize these ideas in the form of intellectual property laws. However, countries like China, for the longest time, have deviated from a normative path to a self-serving ideal, and have counterfeited commodities while lagging in ensuring stringent intellectual property laws. Known as the imitator or copycat for the longest time, China has slowly developed itself into an innovator in multiple fields utilizing its dual approach to intellectual property. The need to slowly build trust and reputation among foreign investors as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), a major chunk of China’s economy is dependent upon it. Thus to achieve this idiosyncratic aim, the normative approach towards the Intellectual Property Litigation System is appropriated by China. Through this mechanism, China has been able to portray a more welcoming stance to the western world in search of new investment opportunities. Meanwhile, the true nature of China's renewing IP policy stems from a self-centric and protectionist place. Understanding China from a single point-of-view would deem weak, as they have crafted a very sound portrayal accepting a standardized intellectual property framework. The article identifies both normative and idiosyncratic approaches by China in the development of their Intellectual Property Framework.