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Home > Penn Carey Law Journals > U. Pa. J. Int'l L. > Vol. 46 (2024-2025) > Iss. 2 (2025)

 

University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law

Publication Date

Winter 2025

First Page

341

Document Type

Article

Abstract

What constitutes the optimal approach to intellectual property (“IP”) protection? The mainstream method, prevalent in many countries, including the United States, is a court-centric model. In contrast, in response to heightened international innovation competition, China adopted an expansive collaborative protection model. This groundbreaking approach extends beyond governmental bodies, such as courts and administrative agencies, to non-governmental entities like private actors, social organizations, and educational institutions.

This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of China’s collaborative protection model, including its policies, legislation, and practical applications. It incorporates literature from public administration and administrative law on collaborative governance to dissect the model’s essence. It suggests that this model allows collaboration among diverse entities to integrate resources and information, aiming to achieve more effective IP protection.

The paper highlights the theoretical implications of the collaborative protection model on the dual nature of the IP system. As a property system, the emergence of the collaborative model implies that relying largely on courts might not offer optimal protection for IP, given its nonrivalrous and non-excludable nature. The pluralistic nature of collaborative protection enhances accessibility, diversity, and timeliness in IP protection, despite challenges like interest divergence, insufficient incentives, and rising costs. As a system of innovation regulation, the model reveals that states can improve the granularity of their innovation incentives through diverse enforcement institutions. While this approach complicates the IP framework, its adaptability in varied innovation scenarios might offset the intricacies, presenting a viable supplement to traditional innovation incentive regulation based on the structure of IP rights.

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