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International In-house Counsel Journal logoInternational In-house Counsel Journal logo

Misunderstanding of Confucianism as an Obstacle to Copyright Enforcement in China

Abstract

Copyright in international scope is deemed to be closely related to specific local culture. Echoed with this theory, many people also begin to analysis the current piracy problem in China from the cultural perspective. China has been largely criticized by international society for lack of efficient enforcement mechanism for intellectual property rights (IPRs). Even after the accession to WTO and incorporation of Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) into domestic law, China is still consistently involved into IPR disputes. Especially, the dispute between China and the USA in 2010 has spotlighted the problem of enforcement of copyright. Although China has tried to upgrade a strong copyright law, piracy seems to put down deep roots in this country. There is a popular theory among scholars that the difficulty of enforcing copyright derives from the deep impact of Confucianism to China’s traditional culture. In their arguments, Confucianism values the interaction to the past knowledge, which suggests copying is a compliment and disfavors copyright as a restriction to knowledge. Confucians also put emphasis on collective rights with ignorance to individual property rights. These Confucian values are completely contradicted to those of the modern copyright law. As a result, Confucianism places a philosophical obstacle to combating Chinese piracy.

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Author

Portrait image of Xiaolu (Lulu) Choi
Xiaolu (Lulu) Choi
Assistant Corporate Counsel, Expeditors International of Washington, Inc., USA

Xiaolu grew up in Tongzhou, a city located in the southeastern section of the Jiangsu Province in China. In 2006, she was admitted to Peking University Law School, where she earned the degree of Juris Master in International Business Law. After passed the national bar in China and worked in law firm and corporate in Beijing, Xiaolu decided to continue her legal education with the admission to Washburn University School of Law with a generous scholarship. Xiaolu earned several scholarship programs and published article in the journal of Kansas Bar Associate Young Lawyer Section while she was in law school. After received her JD degree in 2013, Xiaolu moved to Seattle with her family and stared her legal career in west coast as an in-house counsel in Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.

Company

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. logo

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.

Expeditors is a global logistics company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. As a Fortune 500 company, Expeditors employs over 14,600 trained professionals in a worldwide network of over 250 locations across six continents. Expeditors satisfies the increasingly sophisticated needs of international trade through customized solutions and seamless, integrated information systems. Our services include the consolidation and forwarding of air or ocean freight, customs brokerage, vendor consolidation, cargo insurance, time-definite transportation, order management, warehousing, distribution and customized logistics solutions.

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