The first decade of TRIPS in China

Abstract

Introduction On December 11, 2001, China became the 143rd member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). After more than 15 years of exhaustive negotiations, China finally joined the international trading body. As with other WTO members, China abides by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). Together with more than two dozen other international agreements China has joined, the TRIPS Agreement lays out the international framework impacting intellectual property developments in China (Yu 2011e: 221-3). Part II of the TRIPS Agreement stipulates the high minimum standards for intellectual property protection and enforcement in a large variety of areas, including copyrights, patents, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, plant variety protection, integrated circuit topographies, and protection of undisclosed information. Part III delineates for the first time international standards for the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including civil, administrative, and criminal procedures and remedies and measures related to border control. In addition, Article 64 requires that the mandatory WTO dispute settlement process be used to settle all intellectual property disputes arising under the Agreement. This chapter reviews intellectual property developments in China in its first decade of WTO membership, focusing primarily on developments within the organization. It shows how China has transformed from a passive taker of international intellectual property norms to one that has slowly assumed the additional roles of both a norm shaker and a norm maker. The chapter begins by providing an overview of reforms China undertook in the run-up to the accession. It examines the low profile China maintained in the WTO in the first few post-accession years. It also acknowledges China’s limited interest in international intellectual property norm-setting, including its rare submission to the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Committee). The chapter then examines the recent U.S.–China WTO dispute over the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights and its high-profile intervention in the June 2010 meeting of the Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual PropertyRights (TRIPS Council). It concludes with a discussion of China’s increased assertiveness in the international intellectual property arena, including the WTO.