Thesis: The Chinese economy is best served by a gradual increase in intellectual property right (IPR) protection that corresponds to the growth of its economy. This gradual increase will allow China to become technologically and culturally self-sufficient because contrary to what large American corporations would argue, foreign investment and involvement in the Chinese intellectual property (IP) economy would still be sufficient and China's domestic development would not be unduly restricted.

   This book, a collection of essays by the scholar, Kong Qingjiang, is among the most comprehensive and up-to-date sources available on IPR in China. In this book, Qingjiang takes his work over past years and compiles it into an organized fashion. Because of the nature of this compilation, there is some overlap among the essays in concepts, facts, and ideas. Nevertheless, the book provides more information about IPRs in China than most other books written to this date.
   Because this book is a collection of essays written over a period of time, there is no single unifying thesis to the work. However, it can be said that Qingjiang is very optimistic about China’s IPR future in regards to meeting international standards. On a very basic level, all of the essays suggest that China is making a great deal of progress and that strengthening its IPR regime is a good thing, although it should be undertaken in a gradual manner.
   Specific topics that Qingjiang’s essays focus on are a brief history of recent developments in Chinese IPR regime; an overview of China’s current stance on IPRs, domestically and foreign; judicial enforcement of IPRs; problems in China’s IPR regime posed by the digital era; a discussion of how China is handling the balancing of competition policies and IPRs; China’s strategy for the future of its IPRs; China’s place in the WTO; China’s role in TRIPS and the Doha Agenda; whether China is or can enforce international standards of intellectual property protection; how China’s IPR regime effects Sino-US relations; and lastly, how China’s IPR regime effect Sino-Japanese relations.
    The bulk of these essays use case studies to exemplify their individual assertions although some essays use more statistics than case-studies. As a result of the numerous essays, this book provides more information specific to China than any other book. The book is important for any assessment of IPRs in China and helps to accentuate the argument that China is best suited by a gradual change toward meeting international standards of IPR. This thesis is supported by Qingjiang in different essays throughout, and so is a useful tool in providing a scholarly grounding to the thesis of this project.

   This book is essential for any study of intellectual property rights or copyright in modern China. Because it is one of few books devoted entirely to this subject, The Politics of Piracy provides the reader with an indispensable source of information and a unique thesis on the problem of piracy in the People’s Republic of China. The book’s thesis is as follows: “The direction of external pressure and the characteristics of the institutions it is designed to change are crucial to understanding the effects of foreign pressure on policy enforcement outcomes.”
   As can be seen by this sentence, which merely states Mertha’s hypothesis, the book can, at times, be difficult to read. The writing does not flow as smoothly as it could but this reflects some of the harder concepts that Mertha tries to tackle. To defend his thesis, Mertha mainly uses empirical case studies as opposed to broad statistical evidence, presumably because statistical evidence on piracy in China is fraught with a great deal of unreliability.
   One of the best aspects of this book is that it devotes an entire chapter to each type of intellectual property: patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Because most books on IPRs deal with multiple developing economies, they tend to lump all IPRs together. This book treats each IPR as its own entity and explores their problems and possible solutions with the attention they require.
    It must be stated that this book treats IPRs in China from an obvious etic perspective and argues that most reform in China’s IPR protection comes from foreign, usually United States, pressure. Mertha believes that this is a good and effective method for bringing China’s IPR standards into compliance with Western standards. However, one of the strengths of Mertha’s book, the penultimate chapter, discusses problems with his thesis and his approach to the subject. As a consequence, this book is very valuable to the topic of intellectual property rights in China despite its sometimes difficult prose.
   The value of this book in relation to my thesis is that the book illustrates one aspect of the relationship between China and the US. This book shows that by pressuring China, the United States has achieved higher standards of IPR protection. To my thesis, this suggests that as China has become more important economically, it has also become more important regarding IPR. This importance proves a correlation between the strength of the economy and the strength of IPRs that goes well toward advancing the argument for China's gradual improvement of IPRs.

This book is a collection of essays.  It is very interesting and important for my topic of strengthening IPRs in China because it presents a point of view that is contrary to many of the other books written on IPRs for developing economies.  This book contests that developing economies should not adopt IPR regulations similar to well-developed countries.  More succinctly, “the chapters in Part II suggest that global intellectual property rules may well be an obstacle to development.”
    The essays are generally written in an easy style and all present compelling arguments.  Most essays are written by scholars although some are written by administrators and businessmen with experience in international intellectual property.  The book is broken down into four segments with each segment representing a different aspect of the overall argument.
    The first segment, entitled, “Innovation and Diffusion of Technology” suggests that international IPRs make it difficult for poor countries to receive advanced technology and education, which is in a contradiction to many economists view of IPRs.  The next section, “Development and Access to Technology: Genetics, Health, Agriculture, Education and Information Technology” discusses the current situation in many developing nations and how they use the economic principle of free-riding to their advantage.  It also discusses the fact that developing nations have the capacity to understand and enact versions of IPR laws that are beneficial to them and don’t need assistance in determining their own laws.  The third segment, entitled, “Knowledge and Access: Who Makes the Rules?” argues that international IPR agreements are really just bully tactics enacted by developed nations to coerce weaker countries into adopting the formers’ standards of IPR.  The final part, “Ownership of Knowledge: Changing the Rules” discusses how developing countries have effected TRIPs, the WTO, international IPRs, and their relation to larger countries.
    This book is very valuable for filling out a complete view of IPRs in developing economies.  It presents an alternative view to most economic arguments and, therefore, shows how my thesis would be beneficial at the initial stages of Chinese economic development.  Because the book only discusses developing nations, its thesis falls apart when expanded to nations that have outgrown the “developing nation” status.  This lack of discussion implies that a country that is neither developing nor developed needs an intermediate level of IPR protection, and therefore a gradual increase of IPR protection is necessary.