China Intellectual Property Rights Need To Be Strictly Implemented

The Chinese market has registered a great boom in the last few years. But, the Communist regime, which dominated the country for centuries, has created a very difficult environment for the foreign investors. In China Intellectual Property rights have not been given the importance it deserves.

There are often cases of blatant disregard of these rights, especially in the field of software and movie piracy. The scenario has changed for the better with China becoming a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Foreign investors have often shied away from investing in China due to the ambiguous intellectual property laws prevalent there. This also causes strains in the bilateral relations. Chinese artists and scientists were also discouraged from developing new products or ideas. Considering this, China has tried to improve its intellectual property rights (IPR).

It passed the Trademark Control Act in 1963 to provide for registration of trademark. This Act was repealed in 1982 to make trademarks registration valid for ten years.

In 1979, China entered into an agreement on trade relations with the USA. With this agreement, China vowed to take serious steps to provide protection of copyrights and patents. The first major effort in this direction was taken in June 1980, when China joined the World Intellectual Property Organization or WIPO.

The People's Republic of China implemented the Patents Law in 1985. This not only made the registration of consumer goods mandatory, it also specified penalties in case of infringement of rules. In the same year, China also became a signatory to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

In 1989, China acceded to the Madrid Agreement for International Registration of Trademarks. The scope of Copyrights law was further extended to include computer software in 1991. The Acts were further modified to protect literary and artistic works, and other applied art like toys, jewelry, etc.

The next year, China also signed the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Universal Copyrights Convention. In 1994, the Patents Copyrights treaty was also acceded to. Next year, China and US entered into an agreement whereby the former made an effort to reduce piracy.

Despite all these efforts, piracy remains a big issue in China. And, it has remained a bone of contention in maintaining trade relations with China. The piracy rate at 90% remains the highest in China. Greater sincerity and high degree of commitment are required to implement the China intellectual property rights. Only then things would improve for the better.