حفاظت از مالکیت معنوی مربوط به فن آوری در چین

The state of protection for technology in China is widely criticized from the point of view of incompleteness of the legal system as a whole. Much research dwells on the gap between the Chinese legal system and that in industrialized countries or international agreements. In comparison with the developed countries, China lacks core technologies. While holders of such technologies encounter serious problems in China, the Chinese government is not in an enviable position either. Due to the internal impetus and external pressure on China to strengthen protection for technology, China has made a giant stride and made a substantial progress in legislation, enforcement and other areas. However, designing an appropriate system for technology protection is so complex that China will unavoidably face many challenges. The reforms to be carried out in China will be based on the balance between economic and political consideration.

Intellectual property protection (IPP) has been one of the main concerns in the international commercial system. With the globalization of economic activities and the expansion of international transactions, both industrialized and developing countries have encountered new challenges in the intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes. In particular, the technically advanced countries have a large vested interest in the protection of intellectual property (IP) and call for high standards of protection at worldwide level because the majority of the world's IP is created within their boundaries. While as for developing countries, the dilemma in IPP is encountered. On the one hand, they have to reform their IPR regime in response to new international commitments, domestic economic reforms and external pressures; on the other hand, because IPR involves a lot of public interests, it is likely that the governments will take the social welfare into their consideration when they enforce the IPP. Especially, protection of technology is the core of IP system, on the ground that the significant contribution of technologies to national and global economies has been long recognized. The protection of technology, which involves legislation, enforcement of IPP and other factors, has direct impacts on the technological transfer, trade flows, foreign direct investment (FDI), research and development (R and D) and other commercial activities. Because these activities often occur accompanied by cross-abroad flows of technology from industrialized countries to developing countries, where the IPP generally is weak, the level of IPP there becomes the primary concern of IP holders. China, due to its huge market and the lack of high technologies, is a promising and profitable objective of market expansion for oversea IP holders. However, although China has successfully joined WTO and been bound by Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement, the imperfect system of IPR in China cannot satisfy the requirements of industrialized countries and their IP holders. Consequently, it becomes one of the biggest issues and the main barrier in international commercial activities involving technology. Moreover, the development of some domestic industries that need IPP is also a stimulus of reform in this realm.

The challenges in the IPR regime posed by technical development for China are significant. In order to conform to the new knowledge-economy era and harmonize with the global society, China has made great effort through international commitments (e.g., multilateral and bilateral negotiations) and national measures (e.g., legislation and education). It is a matter of certainty that the level of IPP in China will be improved whether because of the external pressure currently or because of the future appeal from domestic industries in the long run. However, after all, China is a developing country at present, which must be faced when the Chinese authorities make polices relevant to IPP. Before making sure the positive effect of strong IPP on social welfare and national technical development, China will maintain a prudent attitude to it. In this sense, it can be anticipated that the further reform will be carried out gradually. Anyway, China has taken a giant stride in this area, which reflects a promising future.