The rise of global intellectual property rights and their impact on Asia

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/Protection of intellectual property such as patents, copyrights, and trade secrets has been one of the most contentious issues between the United States and Asia most recently, raising fears of a U.S.-China trade war. Strong U.S. and European pressure and changes in the world economy have induced Asian countries to strengthen their laws and enforcement over the past decade. New provisions in the recent World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement will demand even stronger measures. Government officials in the West have long contended that Asia-Pacific countries and other developing nations would benefit from stronger intellectual property rights (IPR), but theoretical models do not support this view, and actually strengthened laws brought very different results in the Japanese and Korean pharmaceutical industries. These cases and the recent U.S.-China friction, as well as some basic differences in Western and Asian IPR cultures, may mean more obstacles on the road to harmonious IPR agreements