China on the road of building an «intellectual property powerhouse»

General observations and empirical insights regarding the example of the Free Trade Port of Hainan

Abstract

The paper aims at providing a general overview of some of the major development trends of Chinese intellectual property law, both from the theoretical and practical perspective. To do so, it focuses in the first place on the recently issued «Outline for Building an Intellectual Property Powerhouse (2021-2035)» and examines the guiding principles, the policy areas, the institutional settings and the operative mechanisms that such Outline lays out with regard to the main regulatory issues concerning the protection of intellectual property rights in China. In the second place, the paper provides some insight about a specific case study, that of the Hainan Pilot Free Trade Zone, whose Intellectual Property Tribunal, in spite of its few years of existence, has already established a quite significant case law, pointing out remedies and dispute resolution mechanisms designed to function as vectors for the creation of a high-quality economy.