Asian Corporate IP Strategies and Management in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities for the Chief Legal Officer

Abstract

A new IP era is dawning throughout Asia. Therefore, addressing and managing intellectual property (IP) matters with and in Asian companies will become a greater challenge for General Counsels in years to come. Ultimately, this metamorphosis will impact significantly the ways in which all corporations address intellectual property matters throughout the global marketplace. Asian corporate IP transformation is influenced by many factors, including: (i) the intersection of Asian cultural roots with the dynamics of modern Asian socio-technological development; (ii) a growing friction between Asian cultures and certain fundamental values underlying the Western approach to intellectual property; and (iii) the intensifying efforts of Asian companies to gain new competitive positions, first regionally and then worldwide. These core factors will drive a dynamic, new emphasis on regional innovation and inventiveness, defined by a greater focus on ethnocentrism, especially in key industrial sectors such as biomedical, green and microelectronics industries. The challenge for corporate General Counsel is how to successfully address these increasingly dynamic forces.