Doing Business in China For Dummies®

Protecting Intellectual Property

You’ve likely heard time and again that you really have to worry about intellectual property (IP) infringement when doing business in China. That’s not precisely true — you have to worry about IP infringement in China before you even begin doing business there! This section tells you how to protect — but first establish — your IP in China.

Getting IP registered early

A number of laws on the books protect patent, trademark, and copyright holders’ rights. However, the main issue is how you get China to recognize your IP. Unlike many systems, China’s IP system is a first-to-file system (other countries often use a first-to-develop). In other words, who developed the IP doesn’t matter — in China, the owner is the first one to file an application for the patent, copyright, or trademark.

Some people from China travel the world looking for IP that they can register in China. They’re either looking to make money using the IP in the Chinese market or waiting for the developers to come to China and pay them off. A number of foreign investors have been unpleasantly surprised by raids on their facilities because they were using what they thought was their own IP in China but were unknowingly committing infringement under the Chinese system!

Regardless of whether you think this system is fair, you should register all your IP in China as soon as you read this section — even if you don’t plan to do business there. Every now and then, you hear about a foreign ...