Abstract
As the first discussion chapter, this chapter focuses on actors involved in China’s global IP engagement. It first identifies the inadequacy of analysing China as a unitary actor and provides a more detailed analysis of the actors involved in China’s international engagement, with a focus on substate actors. In addition to substate actors, this chapter also analyses non-state actors including epistemic communities and private actors. It finds that transnational technocrat networks and department interests have led to divergent IP positions among Chinese regulators. The issues of regulatory competition and regulatory neglect are also discussed to reveal that the dynamics among substate actors adds yet another layer of complexity to China’s international IP engagement.
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Notes
- 1.
Although the official English name of this regulator was changed to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) in September 2018, this chapter uses the old name, SIPO, as it is more commonly known and most of the issues discussed happened before the name change.
- 2.
These include. For a full list of patent offices that have established PPH with China, see https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/col/col46/index.html, Accessed 16 July 2022.
- 3.
WIPO Special Union for the International Patent Classification Committee of Experts, Thirty-Fifth Session, Classification Tools Relating to Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity, IPC/CE/35/7, 21 September 2004.
- 4.
WIPO International Bureau, Project CE 453, Five-Year Plan for the Revision of the IPC, 7 February 2013, see Para. 5 for the issue areas to be revised and Para. 11 for the responsibilities of the rapporteurs.
- 5.
WIPO Special Union for the International Patent Classification Committee of Experts, Thirty-Fifth Session, Report, IPC/CE/45/2, 22 March 2013, see Para. 20 for the list of projects.
- 6.
‘Foreign-related civil relations’ are regulated by the Law on the Application of Laws to Foreign-Related Civil Relations of China 涉外民事关系法律适用法 (2010). The specific circumstances that may constitute ‘foreign-related civil relations’ are further defined in Article 1 of the Supreme People’s Court Interpretations on Several Issues Concerning Application of the Law to Foreign-Related Civil Relationships (I) 最高人民法院关于适用《涉外民事关系法律适用法》若干问题的解释 (一).
- 7.
The Walt Disney Company, US v. Beijing Publishing House etc. (Copyright Infringement Dispute) 美国沃尔特·迪斯尼公司诉北京出版社等侵犯著作权纠纷案, Beijing Intermediate People’s Court Decision No. 141, 中经知初字第141号 (1994), available in SPC Gazette 最高人民法院公报 1996 (4).
- 8.
US-China Memorandum of Understanding on the Protection of Intellectual Property (1992), 17 January 1992.
- 9.
Xian Xidian Jietong Wireless Communication Co., Ltd. (IWNComm) v SONY mobile communication products (China) Co. Ltd., 西电捷通诉索尼发明专利侵权纠纷案 (2017) 京民终454号.
- 10.
Huawei Tech. Co. v. InterDigital Communications, Inc. 华为技术有限公司诉交互数字通信有限公司, Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, No. 858 深中法知民初字第858 号 (2011). For the decision of the second instance, see Guangdong High People’s Court, No. 305 粤高法民三终字305号 (2013).
- 11.
Supreme People’s Court Opinions on Several Issues Concerning (Using) Intellectual Property Trials to Serve the Overall Objective under the Current Economic Situation 最高人民法院关于当前经济形势下知识产权审判服务大局若干问题的意见, No. 23 (2009) 法发 (2009) 23 号.
- 12.
China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) 中国食品药品监管总局, Notice of Calling for Comments on ‘Policies Related to Encouraging Innovations in Pharmaceuticals and Medical Equipment and Protecting Interests and rights of innovators (Draft for Comments) 关于鼓励药品医疗器械创新保护创新者权益的相关政策 (征求意见稿), No. 55, 12 May 2017.
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Cheng, W. (2023). Who Governs? Actors in China’s International IP Engagement. In: China in Global Governance of Intellectual Property. Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24370-7_7
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