On both the domestic and global scale, startups need balanced, certain IP frameworks and policies which allow the free flow of data in order to grow and succeed. While efforts currently underway in China signal some potential progress on those fronts, there are indications that China’s evolving policy landscape may continue to present impediments to startups hoping to grow across the world.
This week, Engine submitted comments to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in response to the agency’s request for public comments concerning China’s compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. In our comments, we urged officials to discourage China from adopting imbalanced and uncertain IP enforcement frameworks, and also called for USTR to examine China’s efforts to restrict the cross-border flow of data and data localization measures.
As we noted in our comments, “China should be discouraged from imposing draconian remedies for patent infringement and it should not pursue administrative adjudication of infringement.” And we also pointed out that China’s restrictions “on data flows and requirements for the local storage of data reduce or eliminate the ability of American firms to fully avail themselves of market access in China.”
You can read our full comments here.
