10 INTRODUCTION

To what extent has the Chinese sought to protect the Olympic property? This essay

aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the IP (intellectual property)

environment in China by examining the case of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games would attract more business people and many

businesses might take advantages of the Games to promote their brand images and

public awareness. However, the unauthorised use of Olympic property might also

appear which would inevitable jeopardize the reputation of the country as an

organizer. In this regard this essay will describe the law, especially the intellectual

property law system in China, the Globalization of the intellectual property, and this

essay will discuss the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to highlight the Olympic-specific

IP protections from the law and non-law perspectives .

20 IP ENVIRONMENT IN CHINA

2.1 Globalization of intellectual property

IP refers to the legally protected rights given to people over their intellectual creations

in the scientific, industrial, artistic and literary fields, under which the owner has the

exclusive right of the creation for a certain period of time and any exploitation must

be under the consent of the owner.1 Intellectual property rights protection is a

complicated issue in a word of many countries linked by international business. The

most notable characteristic of the current is the emergence of new intellectual

property concerns ， from ambush marketing to unauthorized web-broadcast. The

globalization of intellectual property can be summarized as an expansion in depth and

geographical coverage of the protection.2

There are more and more multinational companies and individuals who are actively

engaging in international business, obtaining worldwide intellectual property

protection ,is extremely costly and time-consuming.3

2.2 Intellectual Property Laws at China

China employs the continental legal system known as civil law. Different from USA

and other countries that have the checks and balances, the administration in China is

also responsible for formulating laws and regulations, implementing laws and

1 The World Intellectual Property Organization, ‘Introduction to Intellectual Property: Theory and
Practice ’ ,Kluwer Law International, London, 1997.
2 Daniel J. Gervais, ‘The Internalization of Intellectual Property: New Challenges from the Very Old to the Very
New’，Media and Entertainment Law Journal ,Spring 2002,p.6
3 Yang and Clarke, ‘Globalization and intellectual property in
China’,Technovation,Vol.25,pp.525-555
regulations. Case law is not regard as a form of legal authority; however, the case was

handled wisely by the administrative organ.

China’s current legal system, including intellectual property law, was founded on the

1982 Constitution as amended. Based on the experience of implementing the initial

laws, Chinese intellectual property law system is gradually expanding scope of

protection. For example, the 1995 Regulation of the Protection of Intellectual

Property Law by Custom Authority; the Patent Law of 1985.In addition, the

administrative organizations, including the National Patent Office, the National

Trademark Office, and the National Copyright Office were combined into the

National Intellectual Property Office so as to perfect its intellectual property law

system. Today, China plays important roles in almost all important international

organizations and conventions or treaties of intellectual property .However, even

today there is an argument that China is known as a haven for the manufacture of

pirated goods and such argument was mentioned during the application for 2008

Olympic Games to quiz the Chinese. Actually, the comparison of the status of

Chinese intellectual property law in 1994 with the new international cooperation

standards established in TRIPS (Agreement On Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual

Property Rights) during the same year, we will discover that China has successfully
4
met these new international standards. In addition, the Chinese government
promised to perfect its intellectual law system so as to add value to 2008 Olympic

Games which this essay will explore the relevant laws in section three.

However, despite the efforts China has made, problems still exist. It cannot be denied

that one of the major practical problems about the system of intellectual property laws

in China is the weak enforcement. 5Moreover, it has even been argued that paying

damages is seen as an incidental cost of running a piracy business, and therefore the

threat of court action is no real threat at all. 6Generaly speaking, China still has

established its effective legal system of intellectual property1

14：Weiqiu Long，‘Intellectual Property in China’，St.Mary’s Law Journal，Vol.31,no.1.1999,p.72
5：Veronica Weinstein and Dennis Fernandez, ‘Recent Developments in China's Intellectual Property Laws’, Chinese Journal of
International law,Vol.3,no.1,2004,pp.227-240
6：Fred Greguras, ‘Intellectual Property Strategy and best practices for RD services in China’, Computer Law and Security
Report,Vol.23,Issue 5,2007,Pp.449-452