December 2021
I attended a zoom event called IPR and the US-China Tech Rivalry hosted by Mark Cohen and Timothy Hsieh. Mark Cohen is a senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology and Tim Hsieh is an assistant professor in Law at the Oklahoma City University of Law. At this event the speakers discussed the US tech industry and how China is the number 1 threat when it comes to the tech industry. Since technology plays a crucial role in both the US and Chinese industries it has created competition and even divided the two countries in the realms of artificial intelligence and cyber security.
This concept is multifaceted and contains a variety of components regarding the competition between the two countries. For example, China has dual sim card phones that were developed in China and are only sold in China. Another example in China is the convergence and divergence between IPR in China and the US. For instance, China’s system is more user friendly whereas the US is more corporate level. The laws for the IPR system have changed as this is a fast moving and responsive environment. One example of a tech rivalry includes the competition between the two over software patents. In the US, we’ve scaled back on patent eligibility as there are different requirements through a series of supreme court cases that have overruled them. On the other hand in China, they are ramping up the production of patents as it is much easier in their system to do so. So US companies would be able to get a patent much easier in China than if they were at home. So in some ways, each country is light years ahead of each other hence the rivalry between them.
I found this zoom lecture really interesting as the tech industry is drastically changing and becoming a very competitive market between different nations. I also feel like no matter what field someone goes into, tech is something that is almost always relevant and is important to keep up with.
