Two steps forward, one step back
Monday, May 12, 2008 at 2:59AM ARTICLE: "850,000 lawsuits in the making: Chinese firms and lawyers warm to intellectual property," The Economist, 12 April 2008, p. 74.
ARTICLE: "U.S. Says China, Russia Lag On Intellectual-Property Crime," by Corey Boles, Wall Street Journal, 26-27 April 2008, p. A5A.
In 2003, Chinese trademark applications grow by 60%, resulting in twice as many patents granted (850,000). Meanwhile, court cases jump from 7-8,000 in 2003 to about 18,000 in 2007. China recently open 50 courts just to deal with IP cases.
Who cleans up the most? Chinese lawyers, naturally.
Still, the U.S. can and should continue to complain. Naturally, the "priority watch list" put out by our trade rep office features New Core (China, Russia, Argentina, Chile, India) and Seam States (Pakistan, Thailand, Venezuela) and that way too entrepreneurial island of Coredom deep inside the Gap—Israel.
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