Counterfeiting and Imitating: Intellectual Property Policy in China

~ 3 ~                                                               “…Of course, the sheer scale of fraud these days is unprecedented. We make fakes, we sell fakes, we trade in counterfeit currency, and we buy imitation goods. Everyone is a victim, and everyone is cheating everyone else. The whole society is trapped in a vicious cycle. We're all caught up in an endless revolution of revolutions…” 1 1. Introduction Intellectual property rights are an important part of the legal system promoting civilization. The protection of intellectual endeavor plays a crucial role against the illegal appropriation of science and technology products in an environment of rising knowledge economy and accelerating economic globalization. It has become a general path of all countries to encourage the value of innovation and to cooperate in the field of IPR, above all after the TRIPS agreement during the Uruguay Round. For the international community, trying to impose to China economic and trading standards under the WTO framework, and for the Chinese government itself, trying to suit the innate IPR protection demand, intellectual property protection has become a problematic issue, given that counterfeiting remains a frequent activity dangerously undertaken in the region. I believe it is very interesting to investigate on the causes and effects of the commercialization of counterfeited goods in China. As the 19th century was called the British century, the 20th called the American century, many people believe the 21st would be the Chinese one, and for this reason it is relevant to analyze data on the origin of counterfeited production and the relation with this huge country. In fact, to be able to interact with the “Middle Kingdom” 2 it is crucial to dig deep into the culture of the people. To understand the problem, I will talk about the concept of property in the country and how Chinese people developed the idea of intellectual property. Regarding IP, China joined the international system in 1980s, and till now has dynamically evolved its legislation toward sophistication of intellectual property policy. In particular, after the access to the WTO, China was forced to adopt international standards concerning the protection of brands, trademarks, copyrights and patents, given the high pressure from internal and foreign companies. Considering that, I will focus on the implementation and changes in the legislation. 1 China Candid-People on People’s Republic, Sang Ye, pag.139 “Consuming Habits. On the flood of fakes” 2 China is most commonly called Zhongguo in Mandarin Chinese. The first character zhōng (中) means "middle" or "central," while guó (国 or 國) means "country" or "state". The term was first translated by missionaries as "Middle Kingdom." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#Name