Torts and intellectual property in Industry 4.0: a comparative study of Chinese and American jurisprudence

Abstract

ABSTRACT At the advent of a new millennium, nations around the world have been challenged by a surge of financial, geopolitical, and environmental crises that informs global societies of an incoming revolution that will reform the socioeconomic order of the modern world. As this new age descends upon us, it is profoundly evident that the future will be defined by our grasp on digital information technologies, the multilateral legal systems that govern them, and the numerous advantages that these systems will afford our societies. The controversial discourse of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, otherwise known as Industry 4.0, imparts an objective truth that the Information Age will present us with substantial systems of technological growth, which accordingly translates to systems of economic expansion. The last several decades of technological development have afforded us with transformative tools in the form of supercomputers, artificial intelligence, information technologies, and a variety of smart devices. Regulating the legal mechanisms that govern the utility and development of these technologies is instrumental to benefitting from the economic prosperity, political strength, and developmental capacities that will follow. This article aims to conduct a comparative legal study of the mechanisms of intellectual property rights protections in their intersection with tort liability structures in the PRC and the USA – two global superpowers at the forefront of both technology and jurisprudence. Analyzing the mechanisms of both countries – particularly with the focus of indirect contributory infringements, intellectual property rights abuse, and structural legal reforms – will provide us with a better understanding of the current state of legal standards in domestic and international governance systems. The study will begin with a bilateral deconstruction of each nation’s intellectual property classifications and protections before engaging in the significant processes of historical legal reform. Subsequently, the article will analyze modern legal interactions between tort liability structures and intellectual property protections while subjecting their current forms against the impeding challenges of technological development as afforded through Industry 4.0. Finally, the article will conclude with an objective view of the future of both nations in the reform of intellectual property law.