Stanford University Press To Steal a Book Is an Elegant Offense: Intellectual Property Law in Chinese Civilization (Studies in East Asian Law)

This sweeping study examines the law of intellectual property in Chinese civilization from imperial days to the present. It uses materials drawn from law, the arts and other fields as well as extensive interviews with Chinese and foreign officials, business people, lawyers, and perpetrators and victims of "piracy." Review A wealth of information and analysis on Chinese views of intellectual property rights. . . . The strength of Alford's book is its ability to step back from the heated debates surrounding China's actions and look at the subject in its entirety. The reader is thus able to gain a deeper understanding of the issue and the obstacles that both China and the United States must overcome if a longlasting and mutually beneficial solution is to be found.-- The China Business Review Alford offers a rich mine of materials for those studying intellectual property rights in China. Reviewing Chinese civilization from imperial days to the present, he seeks to answer why intellectual property law has never taken hold in China.-- Choice In this timely and important study, . . . Alford's point is that intellectual property issues are inextricable from broad historical, political, economic, and cultural contexts. . . . Of much broader interest than may be at first apparent.-- Business History Review This ambitious, pioneering work makes available a wealth of new material. It is presented in a richly textured context of the forces--historical, cultural, and political--that have shaped China's approach to the drafting and enforcement of legislation relating to copyrights, patents, and trademarks. Scholars of Chinese law and comparative law and specialists in the law of intellectual property will welcome its publication.--R. Randle Edwards "Columbia University School of Law" From the Back Cover "This ambitious, pioneering work makes available a wealth of new material. It is presented in a richly textured context of the forces--historical, cultural, and political--that have shaped China's approach to the drafting and enforcement of legislation relating to copyrights, patents, and trademarks. Scholars of Chinese law and comparative law and specialists in the law of intellectual property will welcome its publication."--R. Randle Edwards, Columbia University School of Law "Alford offers a rich mine of materials for those studying intellectual property rights in China. Reviewing Chinese civilization from imperial days to the present, he seeks to answer why intellectual property law has never taken hold in China."--Choice About the Author William P. Alford is Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law, and Director of East Asian Legal Studies, at the Harvard Law School.