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U.S. companies that complain about intellectual property theft in China should file patent applications in China. In the early 1990's, the Chinese government overhauled its intellectual property laws to harmonize with the United States and European Patent Office. Patent infringement enforcement is getting better in China and will continue to get better as Chinese companies mature. In order to make a case of patent infringement, however, companies have to have patents in China.
U.S. companies also have to be more diligent in checking translations of their patent claims into Chinese. One case that has been touted as being as example of the Chinese government "ripping off" technology is the Chinese Viagra patent case. The owner of the Viagra patent in the US filed in China and obtained allowable claims in China. These claims were challenged by a third party before the Chinese patent office. The challenge, which was a prior art challenge, was successful and the claims were invalidated. The outcome would perhaps have been different if the patent claims had been properly translated from English into Chinese. Instead of claiming a cure for impotence, the Chinese claims read as a prevention of impotence.
