I think the perception that people commonly have of IP protection in China is out-of-date by several years. From what I've read, the level of IP enforcement ha

I think the perception that people commonly have of IP protection in China is out-of-date by several years. From what I've read, the level of IP enforcement has increased dramatically since about 2014, to the point where there are more IP cases heard in Chinese courts now than in any other country. Likewise, more patents are now filed in China each year than in any other country. It's also not as if local companies always win disputes - foreign companies apparently have a very good track record in Chinese courts. There's a description of the changes in recent years here: 1. https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2018/05/07/rapid-changes-chinese-legal-system-attractive-venue-ip-litigation/ https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2018/05/07/rapid-changes-chinese-... 2. https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/chinas-progress-on-intellectual-property-rights-yes-really/ https://thediplomat.com/2018/01/chinas-progress-on-intellect... Back when China was in the earlier stages of industrialization, it really didn't care much about IP. But things aren't the same any more: China spends about as much on R&D as the US, and it has its own IP to protect. IP law was not on their radar before, but it very much appears to be now. But you can imagine how difficult it is to set such a system up. They've had to create an entirely new legal system, train judges, etc. China has changed so rapidly that it's difficult for these sorts of systems to keep up.