property rights

Intellectual property rights have been acknowledged and protected in the People's Republic of China since 1979. The People's Republic of China has acceded to the major international conventions on protection of IPRs. Domestically, protection of intellectual property law has also been established by government legislation, administrative regulations, and decrees in the areas of trademark, copyright and patent. This has led to the creation of a comprehensive legal framework to protect both local and foreign intellectual property. Nevertheless, violation of intellectual property is still common, due to weak law enforcement and lax support of the law by the population at large as well as the various governmental agencies. Mainland China's record is still poor and has attracted criticism from foreign investors and their governments, especially the United States. Generally, once the PRC has acceded to an international treaty, the People's Courts can quote the provisions of the treaty directly in deciding an intellectual property infringement case, without reference to a Chinese domestic law by which the treaty provision is incorporated.