The Development of China's Intellectual Property Law over the Past Forty Years of Reform and Opening Up

Over the past forty years of reform and opening-up,China has experienced vigorous development of Intellectual Property Law.During this period,it has successively enacted and promulgated a range of basic laws,among which are the Trademark Law of the PRC,the Patent Law of the PRC,the Copyright Law of the PRC and the AntiUnfair Competition Law of the PRC; and many other related laws and regulations,such as the Regulations of the PRC on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants,Regulations on Protection of Integrated Circuit Layout Design and Provisions on the Protection of Geographical Indication Products.In this way,China has gradually established a relatively sound and complete intellectual property law system.Since the beginning of reform and opening-up,China’s practice of intellectual property legislation has adhered to its institutional positioning of being subject to its civil law,safeguarding effective market competition and ensuring the implementation of national strategies.It has followed the development rules of relying on scientific & technological progress,targeting economic and social development and adjusting public policies for guiding purposes.Thanks to this,China has formed multiple coordinating mechanisms to settle conflicts of interests between the protection of intellectual property rights(IPR) and the protection of basic human rights,public health,genetic resources,traditional knowledge,etc.In the future development of China’s intellectual property law,a trend of codification will emerge,which will primarily "include intellectual property law in the civil code" or "enact an intellectual property code." The modernization of China’s Intellectual Property Law will be manifested in the changes of the defining standard of Intellectual Property Rights(IPR)subjects,the utilization patterns of IPR objects and the protection models of intellectual property.This internationalization will center on creating a new order for international IPR protection.