Continuation of notes made by Karthik Chandra during Conference 2014. The full 25-pages notes are
posted in http://efnasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/EFN-Asia-2014-Conference-Report.pdf
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Day 1, November 6, 2014
Case Study of Hong Kong in IPRI
Michael Wong &
Andrew Work
Lion Rock Institute (LRI)
• Hong Kong enjoys a special status and unique
advantages. HK has legacy property rights regime rooted in the British colonial
system and adds to it the economic dynamism from the Chinese.
• HK was a member of the British Commonwealth till 1997
and many HK laws are rooted in British laws. HK copyright law is one of the
first in the world. After becoming the SAR under China, HK has a new IPR
regime.
• HK has a mini-Constitution, which mandates that HK has
to separately protect property rights in HK. This regime means that property
rights recognized in HK are not automatically protected in mainland China.
• HK is also a signatory to various (international?)
regimes/understandings. A comparison of HK with other countries in the IPRI
rankings (and its individual subcomponents’ ranking) shows that HK is
favourably ranked against several other countries like Singapore.
• One of the few countries HK is not exporting IP to is
mainland China. This is because of the unfavourable IPR regime. Current
developments related to new laws, etc. to PR laws – “secondary creations”
issue? Issue of property rights protection versus right to freedom of speech.
If done well, these IPR regime reforms can help bring in more foreign
investments into HK, in the field of intellectual property.
• We also have to take note of the current developments,
the “Occupy HK” Movement. This is taking place in the backdrop of certain
inherent advantages and opportunities in HK. There are also definite and large
threats and risks for HK – if China is not happy with the HK Movement’s demands
they might deny easy access to Chinese markets.
China & Property Rights
Prof. Michael Feng,
Institute for Public Affairs, China
• The Chinese Property Rights issue:
* There are certain misconceptions about the ‘Chinese
Miracle’ especially that it is based on no human rights or poor human rights
(for workers/labourers). But this is simply not true: the Chinese growth story
includes in itself a major improvement in working conditions for the
workers/labourers themselves.
* At the same time we have to take note of the other side
of this story. For instance, the former World Bank Vice-President who happens
to be from China had said that there is no need for property rights in China.
The justification being that ownership is separate from management and good or
successful companies now have different owners and managers. But this is a
false argument as it does not realize that even in the example given (i.e.
about well-run successful companies), the ownership is completely clear and
well defined. Hence the benefits to owners too are well defined.
• The current Prime Minister Le Keqiang is an economist
and has taken a six-fronted approach to economics:
* No stimulus (later modified to micro stimulus)
* No bail out, Structural reforms
* Opening up, Development economics
* (…sixth approach??)
