Brian Safran - China's Intellectual Property System

Brian Safran: “A Critical Look at Western Perceptions of China’s Intellectual Property System”

New York (I-Newswire) September 28, 2012 - Brian Safran is the author of “A Critical Look at Western Perceptions of China’s Intellectual Property System,” his Master’s thesis, which was recently published in Vol. 3, Ed. 2 of the University of Puerto Rico Law School’s Business Law Journal. (http://www.uprblj.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/3.2-UPRBLJ-135-Brian-Safran-A-Critical-Look-at-Western-Perceptions-of-Chinas-Intellectual-Property-System-06-01-2012.pdf).

The thesis was written for his Master of Science degree in Global Affairs from New York University. These meetings took place during a Global Field Intensive program sponsored by New York University in June 2010. While the group was able to meet with leading academics and practitioners in many areas pertaining to US-China relations, Safran pursued his own independent research in Beijing and Shanghai, China, meeting with leading law firm and business representatives. The graduate-level program focused on the social, political, and economic challenges China is currently facing as the country reemerges.

According to Safran, transatlantic corporations have channeled their collective energies into their respective Chambers of Commerce to complain about China’s lack of enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR). However, evidence suggests that such firms are not availing themselves to the protections the Chinese system affords. Safran’s paper inquires into the bases for western perceptions of China's intellectual property system and attempts to assess whether they truly reflect the business-operating environment in China.

The paper begins by analyzing the current state of China’s intellectual property system, to include the substantive law and policy protecting IP rights as well as the specific judicial, administrative and criminal mechanisms and processes for protecting IPR in China. It then addresses the impacts of China’s so‐called ‘indigenous innovation policy’, international trade regulations, and Confucian culture on China’s domestic IP system, and examines the enforcement potential by focusing on judicial outcomes in actual IP disputes involving foreign parties.

The analysis is framed using "Theory of Reasoned Action," as introduced by American social psychologists Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen, and concludes that a combination of a series of misguided "attitudes" and "subjective norms" have ultimately served to discourage corporate executives from choosing to participate in China's IP system.

In the end, it is argued that although challenges remain, China's intellectual property system is not as weak as is commonly believed, and that opportunities exist for western business executives to craft effective strategies to respond to these challenges. As a starting point, well-advised western business executives should seek to participate in China's IP system. This means filing for IP protection with Chinese authorities, consulting with local counsel and business consultants, and submitting to available administrative, judicial and criminal procedures for enforcing their IP rights.