Early Days For Chinese IP Enforcement, Experts Suggest

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

08 March 2004

Although the fact that the Chinese court system remains largely untested with regard to intellectual property disputes has put some companies off, and driven them to sue in their home countries over IP violations, trust in the system is increasing, according to experts in the field.

Speaking at a recent Reuters Technology, Media and Telecoms summit in New York, 3Com Corp's CEO, Bruce Claflin explained that China's lack of experience in settling IP disputes led his firm to incorporate a new joint venture with Chinese tech firm Huawei in Hong Kong rather than on the mainland.

"In China, there's absolutely no history of enforcement. That remains the biggest issue on legal control of IP in China," he observed.

However, Baker and McKenzie partner, Tan Loke-Khoon painted a more optimistic picture of the situation, explaining to Reuters that:

"It's early days for the courts. But we are seeing very positive signs from the way our cases are being handled and managed by the judges. There's more transparency, more cogent arguments and reasoning."

Several large multinational firms appear to be coming to share this optimism with regard to IP protection in China, most notably Starbucks, which last month sued a Shanghai firm for trademark infringement through the Chinese courts.

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