Litigation No Substitute for Protecting I/P in China

According to Meagan C. Dietz, Sarena Shao-Tin Lin, and Lei Yang writing in the latest issue of McKinsey Quarterly, many multinational companies in China are losing the battle to protect their intellectual property, largely because they rely too heavily on legal tactics and fail to factor IP properly into their strategic and operational decisions.

The best companies reduce the chance that competitors will steal their IP,
by carefully selecting which products and technologies to sell and manufacture
in China. . . . The law alone isn't enough to protect intellectual assets. A company should assign explicit responsibility for its IP to senior managers who are familiar with all aspects of the business and able to focus their energies on those elements of IP protection it can control. Achieving the right mix of legal, operational, and strategic considerations is difficult, and companies certainly can't protect all of their IP all of the time. Yet those that get it right are more likely to build successful businesses in China.

The author's "Pyramid of IP Protection" graphic illustrates that an "intellectual property awareness culture" is an important operational consideration for those doing business in China. You can get your operation some free I/P awareness here.