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Trade War Or Not, China is Closing the Gap on US in Technology IP Race (reuters.com)
China's rising investment in research and expansion of its higher education system mean that it is fast closing the gap with the United States in intellectual property and the struggle to be the No.1 global technology power, according to patent experts. From a report: While U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of punitive tariffs on high-tech U.S. exports could slow Beijing's momentum, it won't turn back the tide, they say. Washington's allegation that the Chinese have engaged in intellectual property theft over many years -- which is denied by Beijing -- is a central reason for the worsening trade conflict between the U.S. and China. Forecasts for how long it will take for Beijing to close the technological gap vary -- though several patent specialists say it could happen in the next decade.
And China is already leapfrogging ahead in a couple of areas. "With the number of scientists China is training every year it will eventually catch up, regardless of what the U.S. does," said David Shen, head of IP for China at global law firm Allen & Overy. Indeed, IP lawyers now see President Xi Jinping's pledge earlier this week to protect foreign IP rights as projecting confidence in China's position as a leading innovator in sectors such as telecommunications and online payments, as well as its ability to catch up in other areas.
And China is already leapfrogging ahead in a couple of areas. "With the number of scientists China is training every year it will eventually catch up, regardless of what the U.S. does," said David Shen, head of IP for China at global law firm Allen & Overy. Indeed, IP lawyers now see President Xi Jinping's pledge earlier this week to protect foreign IP rights as projecting confidence in China's position as a leading innovator in sectors such as telecommunications and online payments, as well as its ability to catch up in other areas.
Well, yeah. When you can steal until you don't need to anymore, I guess that is kind of convenient ...
This is being measured entirely by patents. This is the wrong metric to use, although I'm sure the usual suspects are creaming in their pants to see another "America is going to get it" article. They hate our guts and dream of the day we'll be humiliated. What can I say, we deserve it, we're horrible people. Patents in the USA, particularly regarding software, are total bullshit. They shouldn't even be granted, and when they are, they're either for totally obscure ideas or for ideas obvious to anyone in the art. Patents in China are bullshit too, they don't have anything to do with actual progress. Hey, who cares though, journalists aren't experts and they love to distill complex topics down to a single number that they mistakenly regard like a sports score.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
U kidding? They're going to protect their computer systems, unlike America who left critical systems that should have been air-gapped on the public internet. A little-known fact is that the Great Firewall isn't just for keeping Chinese from accessing foreign sites, it also does a great job of keeping snooping foreigners out of Chinese sites. China has a mostly safe, secure playground for its own people. Don't be absurd, they won't fall for the same mistakes their opponent stupidly committed.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
It's not been one sided. The young US did exactly the same to the technologically most advanced nation of the 18th/19th century, the UK:
E.g. https://www.pri.org/stories/20...
A developing nation will always "steal" the knowledge about technology and manufacturing from other, more advanced, nations. This is the normal course of history, it has happened many times before and will happen in the future. Not only the US did it back then, but also Germany stole from the UK for example. In more recent times, Japan did it as well.
Just like you can't protect the latest blockbuster from getting torrented, you cannot keep tech to yourself, same unsolvable problem.
Don't expect people to respect patents outside of their domain.
Then don't expect countries to allow you to sell your products in their country if it is breaking the patent laws of their country.