Intellectual Property and Culture: Differences and Origins

China has for many years been criticized for its poor record of protecting intellectual property rights. However, recent evidence has shown that China may now not be as lax in its protections as previously assessed. This thesis aims to build on these new findings by (1) demonstrating the continued gap in the robustness of Chinese and American copyright laws and (2) finding the possible origins of this perceived gap. The main method for answering the first question centers on the comparison of the American and Chinese “fair use” clauses. Through the findings of this method, China’s “fair use” clause proves much more permissive than that of the United States. In answering, the second question, this thesis first turns to economics, more specifically the relationship between a nations status as a developing/developed nation and its protection of intellectual property. Through an analysis of theory and numbers, this thesis shows that China has much to gain from protecting intellectual property rights and accordingly has reached an unprecedented level of protection. Thus, one is left questioning the “why” behind this continued gap in the structures of American and Chinese copyright laws. This thesis then turns to factors in the moral philosophies of these two countries. First, through the findings of other writers, a link is drawn between the conception of intellectual property and morality. Second, an analysis of Japanese and French “fair use” clauses in comparison with the Chinese and American “fair use” clauses indicates that all of these nations, though they have an interest in protecting intellectual property rights, have varying degrees of robustness. Therefore, perhaps their differing moral philosophies dictate the degree of strength. Furthering this proposition, a textual analysis comparing the “fair use” clause of the United States and China with some of the important factors of their respective moral philosophies reveals a deep level of consistency between the moral philosophy and the structure of the “fair use” clauses of both nations. This thesis finds that though China now actively protects intellectual property, it maintains key differences with the United States and these key differences may in part be explained by the moral philosophies of these two countries, as they are textually consistent with their laws