Law Commons^™

Coded Social Control: China’S Normalization Of Biometric Surveillance In The Post Covid-19 Era, Michelle Miao

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

This article investigates the longevity of health QR codes, a digital instrument of pandemic surveillance, in post-COVID China. From 2020 to 2022, China widely used this tri-color tool to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. A commonly held assumption is that health QR codes have become obsolete in post-pandemic China. This study challenges such an assumption. It reveals their persistence and integration - through mobile apps and online platforms - beyond the COVID-19 public health emergency. A prolonged, expanded and normalized use of tools which were originally intended for contact tracing and pandemic surveillance raises critical legal and ethical concerns. Moreover, their …

Disharmony In Patent Law: A Comparative Study Of Patent Eligibility Of Biological Subject Matters Between China And The United States, Xiongying Tu

Cybaris®

Disharmonies in intellectual property rights have led countries, like China and the U.S., to implement patent laws tailored to their unique culture, values, and goals while complying with international treaties. China's exclusion of treatment and diagnosis methods from patent protection prioritizes healthcare accessibility, whereas the U.S.'s allowance of patentability fosters medical innovation. Similarly, China's exclusion of animal and plant patentability aligns with cultural and agricultural values, emphasizing resource accessibility and food security. Protecting genetic resources poses challenges, with China aligning its patent law proactively with the CBD principles and the U.S. prioritizing unrestricted access. China's approach to human stem cell …

Enhancing The Battleverse: The People’S Liberation Army’S Digital Twin Strategy, Joshua Baughman

Military Cyber Affairs

No abstract provided.

The Chinese Copyright Dream, Sean A. Pager, Eric Priest

Pepperdine Law Review

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision of the “Chinese Dream” has captured the popular imagination. As a slogan, the Chinese Dream is intentionally broad. Intended to inspire rather than prescribe, it captures diverse aspirations including dreams of material prosperity, environmental sustainability, national rejuvenation, and global leadership. The Dream’s ramifications continue to ricochet through state policy echelons and lend themselves to competing interpretations. In that spirit, we advance a modest suggestion: that the Chinese Dream should be, at least in part, a dream about copyright law. A more effective copyright system would bolster China’s creative industries, generating a diverse supply of high-quality …

The Long And Winding Road To Effective Copyright Protection In China, Peter K. Yu

Pepperdine Law Review

In November 2020, China adopted the Third Amendment to the Copyright Law, providing a major overhaul of its copyright regime. This Amendment entered into effect on June 1, 2021. The last time the regime was completely revamped was in October 2001, when the Copyright Law was amended two months before China joined the World Trade Organization. While U.S. policymakers and industry groups have had mixed reactions to the recent Amendment, the new law presents an opportunity to take stock of the progress China has made in the copyright reform process. This Article begins by mapping the long and winding road …

Protecting Data Privacy For Mobile Payments Under The Chinese Law: Comparative Perspectives And Reform Suggestions, Robin Hui Huang, Qiang Han, Xiuwen Zhu

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

China has become one of the largest mobile payment markets in the world. While mobile payments bring great benefits such as convenience, flexibility, and efficiency, they are not without risks. This article focuses on one of the major risks, namely the data privacy risk, which is in large part caused and exacerbated by the involvement of multiple players and the extensive collection of personal information. There were some difficulties in protecting data privacy under the traditional legal framework, which was developed in a piecemeal manner with relevant provisions scattered around many different laws. In response, China has been trying to …

Defensive Patent Litigation Strategy For Chinese Companies: A Review Of The Extraterritorial Reach Of The United States Patent Laws, Lisa D. Zang

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

China has experienced an extraordinary transformation from a poor, developing nation into a global economic power. With China becoming one of the U.S.’s largest trading partners, however, Chinese companies have become increasingly enmeshed in U.S. patent litigations. Although the U.S. patent laws are intended only to govern conduct within the nation’s borders, the line between domestic and foreign economic activities has become increasingly blurred. Modern sales transactions often span multiple countries, and in such situations, it may not be clear whether the U.S. patent laws apply. For Chinese companies facing exposure to U.S. patent litigations, it is critical to understand …

Navigating Sino-American Business Relationships, Ryan Stenquist

Marriott Student Review

Relationships between American and Chinese companies have never been more important or profitable as they are now. With linguistic, moral, governmental, and legal systems developed entirely independent of each other for thousands of years, these relationships also prove the most difficult and complex to navigate. This article explores mistakes foreigners often make while doing business in China, the current environment and culture of joint ventures with native Chinese, and how to succeed in the challenging yet rewarding economy now opening up to the world.

Argh, No More Pirating America’S Booty: Improving Copyright Protections For American Creators In China, Johnathan Ling

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

The advent of the internet brought about revolutionary changes and challenges to the world. Internet piracy is one area which is presenting new challenges, particularly to copyright holders such as artists, filmmakers, and creators. China has been a hotbed of piracy and is home to the second highest number of file sharing infringers in the world. China has made strides to improve its copyright protection, such as implementing a copyright law in 1990, as well as joining the World Trade Organization and signing on to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which specifies minimum levels of intellectual …

Protecting The Mickey Mouse Ears: Moving Beyond Traditional Campaign-Style Enforcement Of Intellectual Property Rights In China, Adela Hurtado

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Multinational corporations often struggle to protect their intellectual property rights in China. The Walt Disney Company, which has a long relationship with China, knows this all too well. In fact, counterfeit Mickey Mouse ears—along with numerous other Disney character goods—are now sold in plain sight at the new Shanghai Disneyland Resort. In an attempt to combat counterfeiting, companies such as Disney rely on a traditional method of enforcement of intellectual property rights: government campaigns. Campaigns are short periods of time during which multiple raids and government enforcement actions occur to crack down on counterfeiting. The irony of Disney’s situation is …

The World’S Trademark Powerhouse: A Critique Of China’S New Trademark Law, Xuan-Thao Nguyen

Seattle University Law Review

China has become the world’s trademark powerhouse with the largest number of trademark registrations for goods and services. Parallel to the new rise is the explosion of scandals concerning trademarked goods, causing numerous deaths, massive hospitalizations, and consumer defection from domestic brands. Instead of having a trademark law with consumer protection as the cornerstone, China’s new Trademark Law will cement China as the world’s manufacturer of trademarks. This Article is the first to critically examine China’s new Trademark Law. The new law mainly centers on creating procedural measures for more trademark registrations, maintaining China’s trademark registration powerhouse status, and perpetuating …

A Cure For Twitch: Compulsory License Promoting Video Game Live-Streaming, Yang Qiu

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

New technology always bring challenges to Chinese legislation. In recent years, based on technological development of network transmission, video game streaming platforms like “Twitch.tv” have made “big” money. The problem, however, is that the streaming content on those platforms involve copyrightable video games, which infringe game publishers’ copyright, if the streaming platform lacks authorization. And only a few of the streaming platforms and streamers have licenses from game publishers. Nowadays, most game publishers allow streaming to exist because they view the streaming as free advertisement for their games. By making these allowances, the game publishers stay in their fans’ good …

Putting The Pieces Together: A Proposal For A Contributory Infringement Provision In Patent Law, Xianzhi Quan

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Among the top five countries who have filed the most patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”) in 2015, China is the only country that has no provision regarding contributory patent infringement. As a result, in patent cases related to contributory infringement, different courts have adopted different criteria to determine whether contributory patent infringement is present. This has resulted in many problems in China, causing confusion and conflicts in understanding among patent holders and the public.

With the increase of patent infringement cases in China, legislation on the standard of contributory patent infringement is imminent. This Article puts forward …

A Long-Overdue Reform: China’S Grant-Back Regime In Technology Transfer, Xiaoqiong Liu

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Technology transfer occurs when the owner of a technology grants access to that technology to another party. Today, companies consider technologies—as opposed to physical assets—the most important business assets that are directly tied to their products’ competitiveness. Intellectual property (“IP”) law protects those technologies. One type of technology transfer is contract manufacturing, where foreign companies employ Chinese companies to manufacture products for the Chinese markets. Contract manufacturing is beneficial to foreign companies because it saves them shipping costs and time. To facilitate contract manufacturing in China, however, foreign companies—often the owners of the technologies—must authorize Chinese companies access to their …

The Trademark As A Novel Innovation Index, Brian J. Focarino

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

When studying the relationship that exists between entrepreneurship and intellectual property, patents receive the most scholarly attention. The attention makes sense when we consider that patents are closely associated with technical progress, grant temporary monopolies that incentivize investment in research & development (R&D), and function as vectors of technological dissemination in and of themselves. In a number of industries however, conventional forms of innovation often associated with patenting are minimal or missing altogether, and require us to look elsewhere to discern innovative behavior. This Essay highlights novel applications for trademark law to entrepreneurial activity in low-technology industries and low-financing locations …

Burdensome Secrets: A Comparative Approach To Improving China’S Trade Secret Protections, Eric D. Engelman

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

More Than Bric-A-Brac: Testing Chinese Exceptionalism In Patenting Behavior Using Comparative Empirical Analysis, Jay P. Kesan, Alan Marco, Richard Miller

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Although many developing economies are increasingly influencing the global economy, China’s influence has been the greatest of these by far. Once hindered from competition by political and economic restrictions, China is now a major economic player. As China’s economic might has grown, so too has the demand for intellectual property protection for technologies originating from China. In this article, we present a detailed empirical study of Chinese patenting trends in the United States and the implications of these trends for the global economy. We compare these trends to patenting trends from earlier decades. Specifically, we compare Chinese patenting trends to …

Copyright And Free Expression In China’S Film Industry, Eric Priest

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Article analyzes whether copyright, which creates private rights in original expression and is therefore a legal tool for restricting the dissemination of information, exacerbates or undercuts state censorship in China’s film industry. Recent scholarship suggests that copyright law reinforces China’s oppressive censorship regime because both copyright and state censorship erect legal barriers around expressive works. The theory that copyright enhances censorship in China, however, overlooks the immense tension between state attempts at information control and market-supported information production made possible by copyright. This Article demonstrates that the Chinese government does not wield unchecked, top-down control over China’s film industry …

China's Human Rights Record Since Tiananmen 1989 And The Recent Mixed Response Of The United States, Daniel C. Turack

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Taming The Counterfeit Dragon: The Wto, Trips And Chinese Amendments To Intellectual Property Laws, Andrew Evans

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Still Dissatisfied After All These Years: Intellectual Property, Post-Wto China, And The Avoidable Cycle Of Futility, Peter K. Yu

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Online Tracking: Can The Free Market Create Choice Where None Exists?, Benjamin Strauss

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

A Dual Track Approach To Challenging Chinese Censorship In The Wto: The (Future) Case Of Google And Facebook, Anonymous

Michigan Journal of International Law

As economic and trade policies continue to affect more facets of society, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) impact on government policy and citizens’ lives has grown. Since its creation on January 1, 1995, the WTO has fostered trade liberalization negotiations and served as a forum where member countries can discuss economic concerns with one another. The WTO is perhaps best known for its dispute settlement mechanism. When countries cannot reach a mutual resolution to a conflict governed by a trade agreement, they can initiate formal legal proceedings against one another by asking for a panel to be appointed. The panel …

Not In It For The Long Run: China's Solution For Compliance With Trips Requires More Than A Nine-Month Campaign, Devon Spencer

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Rise And Decline Of The Intellectual Property Powers, Peter K. Yu

Campbell Law Review

Since its reopening to foreign trade in the late 1990s, China has been the poster child of intellectual property piracy and counterfeiting. Virtually every year, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) lists China on its watch list or priority watch list. The country’s piracy and counterfeiting problems have also been frequently mentioned in connection with international intellectual property enforcement initiatives, such as the highly controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and the equally problematic domestic legislative proposals for heightened copyright enforcement. In a recent report, the International Trade Commission estimated that “firms in the U.S. [intellectual property]–intensive economy …

Chinese Patents As Copyrights, Benjamin Piwei Liu

Campbell Law Review

Although harmonization efforts such as the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the Patent Corporation Treaty regime have brought national patent systems closer, differences among them remain a continuing challenge to innovators in an interconnected global marketplace. The recent development of the Chinese patent system is of particular interest because China is the factory of the world, the most populous market, the home of the patent office that handles the most patent application filings, and the number one source of imports that violate intellectual property rights (IPR). Its patent system affects every company whose supply …

Deconstructing Shanzhai - China's Copycat Counterculture: Catch Me If You Can, William Hennessey

Campbell Law Review

What is a “Chinese copy”? And why does China have a reputation as the quintessential “copycat culture,” where nimble knock-offs of virtually any article are in the daily news and respect for and protection of the intellectual property owned by others is widely perceived to be either weak or non-existent? Are copying and creativity diametrical opposites, two sides of the same coin, or unrelated to one other? Are wildly successful imitators uncreative? Does the charge that “the Chinese are the masters of copying” reflect something unique about China’s traditions and culture? Do China’s cultural traditions (particularly Confucianism) foster copying or …

The Emperor's New Clothes: Intellectual Property Protections In China, Patricia E. Campbell, Michael Pecht

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

International Intellectual Property Scholars Series: Intellectual Property And Asian Values, Peter K. Yu, Peter K. Yu

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

From Niall Ferguson to Fareed Zakaria, commentators have paid growing attention to the rise of Asia and its implications for the West. Recent years have also seen the emergence of a growing volume of literature on intellectual property developments in Asia, in particular China and India. Few commentators, however, have explored whether Asian countries will take unified positions on international intellectual property law and policy.

Commissioned for the Inaugural International Intellectual Property Scholars Series, this article fills the void by examining intellectual property developments in relation to the decades-old 'Asian values' debate. Drawing on the region's diversity in economic and …

Lessons From Pfizer's Disputes Over Its Viagra Trademark In China, Daniel Chow

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.