The US’ Intellectual Property Policy Toward China and China’s Response—After the Establishment of Sino-US Diplomatic Relations

The evolution of the US’ intellectual property policy toward China can be divided into four phases. This evolution has intensified with the rapid development of Chinese science and technology. The policy in question is characterized by a focus on global leadership, the pursuit of a global intellectual property protection strategy, and the combination of intellectual property protection and economic sanctions. In the near future, the US will likely pursue a more rigorous intellectual property policy toward China by elevating this policy to the level of national-security strategy, strengthening its global intellectual property deployment, and promoting intellectual property values with double standards. As a result, China will be exposed to risks concerning technological decoupling, international reputation, and international trade. At present, China faces problems and obstacles related to responding strategies that cannot be ignored. The country should take improvement measures. At the basic level, China should promote the construction of foreign and domestic legal systems and actively participate in global intellectual property governance. At the core level, it should prioritize the development of key technologies and build an institutional system that supports self-reliance in high-level science and technology. At the subject level, enterprises should implement protection strategies combined with patent risk assessment; they should also improve their ability to prevent intellectual property risks. At the safeguard level, China should strengthen the training and introduction of foreign intellectual property talents and support the transfer of such talents to the international market.