Property rights go East

摘要

Astroll through the streets of Beijing or Shanghai, past the arrays of knock-off DVDs and Rolex watches on sale, gives many visitors a simple view of patent protection in China: they think there isn't any. But behind the scenes, China is rapidly developing a strong, if unsung, commitment to intellectual property, according to a growing number of specialists in the field. And they say that companies in research-intensive industries that shun China for fear of patent theft could miss out on an upsurge in inventive, properly protected work there. All of this was highlighted at a forum held in Beijing on 17-18 October to mark the opening of the Institute of Molecular Medicine of Peking University. Ian Harvey, chairman of London's Intellectual Property Institute, presented a roomful of scientists and pharmaceutical-company representatives with a surprisingly upbeat report on the situation.