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Wechsler, Andrea --- "Spotlight on China: Piracy, Enforcement, and the Balance Dilemma in Intellectual Property Law" [2011] ELECD 203; in Kur, Annette (ed), "Intellectual Property Rights in a Fair World Trade System" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Intellectual Property Rights in a Fair World Trade System

Editor(s): Kur, Annette

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849800099

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Spotlight on China: Piracy, Enforcement, and the Balance Dilemma in Intellectual Property Law

Author(s): Wechsler, Andrea

Number of pages: 45

Extract:

2. Spotlight on China: piracy,
enforcement, and the balance
dilemma in intellectual property law
Andrea Wechsler1

1. INTRODUCTION: PIRACY AND THE SEARCH
FOR BALANCE IN IP LAW

The aftermath of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS)2 and the TRIPS-plus era3 has been marked by
various schools of thoughts on reform of the international intellectual
property (IP) law regime. The focus of these reform impetuses has, in
particular, been on the impact of the TRIPS Agreement and TRIPS-
plus standards on the international community and on other areas such
as health, environment, agriculture and education. The focus on these
areas, however, has increasingly pressurized policymakers to preserve the
objectives behind TRIPS whilst realizing sustainable development4 and


1 The author wishes to thank Annette Kur, Henning Grosse-Ruse Khan,

Adolf Dietz, Frank Müller-Langer and all other members of the IP in Transition
project for their comments on earlier drafts.
2 15 April 1994, Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade

Organization, Annex 1C, 1869 U.N.T.S. 299, 33 I.L.M. 1197 (1994).
3 See the website of the Office of the United States Trade Representative

(USTR) for more information on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs): http://www.
ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/Section_Index.html.
4 "Sustainable development" is defined as "development that meets the needs

of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs", Bruntland (1987). The Center for International Sustainable
Development Law (CISDL) requires "accommodation, reconciliation and ...