Edward Elgar Publishing Imitation to Innovation in China: The Role of Patents in Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries (New Horizons in Intellectual Property series)

Following decades in which China’s approach to technology has been to imitate, the country is now transforming itself to become innovation-oriented. This pioneering study examines whether patents play a similar role in promoting innovation in China as they do in the West, exploring the interplay between patents and China’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in particular. The author argues for a stronger patent regime based on an extensive review of the technological capacity, R&D models, patent filings and litigations, and issues in patent law, which involve China’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. By comparing China with other developing countries and analyzing China’s uniqueness in terms of its development stage, technological capacity and the strengths and weaknesses in its patent system, Yahong Li concludes that China is distinguished from the prevailing view that patents play a limited role in innovation in developing countries. The book also discusses whether and how patents can promote innovation in China’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, based on the study of market scale, R&D capacity, innovation model and patent legislation and cases. This comprehensively researched book will be invaluable to multinational biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies either doing business or planning to do business in China. Practitioners and policymakers as well as academics and students specializing in IP law, economics and technology should also not be without this eloquent book.