Intellectual Property, Economic Development, and the China Puzzle

This book chapter examines the relationship between intellectual property protection and economic development. It begins by exploring the conventional linkage between intellectual property protection and foreign direct investment. The chapter then examines why China expanded its intellectual property protection even though such expansion was unnecessary for attracting FDI. The final section highlights the country’s regional and sectoral disparities, its inadequate development of an enabling environment for effective intellectual property protection, and its improvements in intellectual property protection at both the microscopic and qualitative levels. The chapter takes the view that a better understanding of the role of intellectual property protection in promoting economic development will provide a more accurate forecast of when China will reach a crossover point at which it will find stronger intellectual property protection in its self-interests.

Peter K. Yu

Intellectual Property, Trade and Development: Strategies to Optimize Economic Development in a TRIPs Plus Era

August 1, 2018

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