Everything Old Is New Again: Reframing the Cultural Explanation for Intellectual Property Infringement in China

Résumé :

In at least several ways, Western-style intellectual property law conflicts with modern Chinese culture insofar as that culture draws on the country’s ancient Confucian tradition and more recent history of unique socialist governance. For example, whereas the West is broadly individualistic, China is generally and anciently collectivist, a trait that has been attenuated by socialism at least with respect to popular conceptions of property rights and the types of rights that political leaders are expected to enforce. Further, although China has recently undertaken many significant legal reforms, the concepts of legalism and the rule of law have not yet reached the same levels of social importance or government fulfillment in China as they have in the West. Without comparable satisfaction of these three essential features of Western style intellectual property law—individualism, legalism, and the rule of law—Chinese enforcement thereof will continue to be economically and politically, rather than culturally, driven.