- 26 - Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Developing Countries
legal rights and remedies risks creating the false impression that an intricate body of law can
rapidly denature the citizenry.
195
In our own legal system, undoubtedly criminal behavior
persists despite clear laws on the books to the contrary.
196
Chinese legal scholar, Susan Finder reported that IP infringement litigation is on the rise
in China.
197
Nine months after China’s accession to the WTO the US-China Business Council
reported to a U.S. Trade Representative that “progress in improving IPR protection remains
slow, and has shown no particular change in direction since WTO accession.”
198
Perhaps it is
time to try a different approach.
This is a critical time to try to stem the tide of counterfeiting and piracy; both for U.S.
consumers and businesses, and for PRC stability. An empowered and knowledgeable judiciary
and staff could play an instrumental role in enforcing IPR in China. The independent and
educated judiciary has developed as one of the most sacred principles since the rise of the
modern nation-state. Rather than discouraging infringement through the current, ineffective
means, international time and energy might be better spent encouraging and supporting the
judiciary, the administrative organs and ultimately the economic stability of China and other
developing countries.
195
See id. at 162.
196
Id.
197
Susan Finder, The Protection of Intellectual Property Rights Through the Courts, in C
HINESE
I
NTELLECTUAL
P
ROPERTY
L
AW AND
P
RACTICE
268 (Mark A. Cohen et al. eds., 1999).
198
The United States-China Business Council, China’s WTO Implementation Efforts: An Assessment of the First
Nine Months of China’s WTO Membership, available at
http://www.uschina.org/public/testimony/testimony13.pdf
(September 3, 2002).
Convention