A major condition for successful investment in China is the protection of intellectual property. Although the Chinese patent system is now more than 20 years old, only a few foreign companies have started to file applications for Chinese patents and trademarks. However, with China having signed major international IP treaties such as TRIPS, there is now a modernized IP litigation system in place which is still being steadily reformed: In 2004, more than 8,000 lawsuits on alleged infringements of intellectual property rights were decided in first instance in China. More than one third of these cases concerned the infringement of patents.
The attorneys at BARDEHLE PAGENBERG have a network of long-standing personal contacts to Chinese IP lawyers which were established by regular business visits by partners to China that started in the early eighties. In April 2005, a delegation of senior IP judges and attorneys from Shanghai delivered a highly interesting seminar on enforcement of IPRs in China which was hosted by BADEHLE PAGENBERG to industry representatives in Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Paris.
