China pays US$1 billion compensation IPR disputes

Science and Technology Minister Xu Guanhua said on April 27 Chinese enterprises have paid more than US$1 billion to compensate their foreign competitors over intellectual property rights (IPR) disputes since 2001.

These IPR battles have involved a wide range of products, including TV sets, MP3 chips, DVDs, motorbikes, digital cameras and telecoms equipment, Xu said in a report to the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress.

Xu added that 99 per cent of Chinese enterprises did not hold any invention patents, and that domestic companies had to pay 20 to 40 per cent of the price of every mobile phone or computer they produced to overseas patent holders.