The goal of this study was to analyze recent intellectual property (IP) policy documents and related legal regulations in the United States and China, to identify structural differences and overarching similarities, and to further understandings of the two countries’ innovation and development strategies. The study relied on a qualitative analysis of U.S. and China’s policy documents published from 2013-2020. By using databases such as federalregister.gov, alphalawyer.cn, and pkulaw.cn (the latter two on China’s laws and regulations), I have found that the data on both countries equivalently sufficient as I was able to retrieve 2,173 U.S. documents, 1,052 documents published by China’s central government, and 4,759 documents by China’s local governments. Access to data on the Chinese government’s policy documents is not very limited.

The hypothesis was that IP policies shape innovation and development strategies, hereby exerting an impact on U.S.-China trade and diplomatic relations. The research shows that both U.S. and China’s innovation strategies have focused on enhancing IP protection over high-tech patents, accelerating the patenting process, and advancing international cooperation relating to intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement. Since 2013, the White House has announced major steps to facilitate innovation-intensive economic sectors and the Department of Commerce champions policies that would expand U.S. broadband capacity, enhance cybersecurity, and provide a robust environment for innovation. Recent policy documents from China’s central government, including the 13th Five-Year Plan, National Patent Development Strategy (2011-2020), and Action Plan for the in-Depth Implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy (2014-2020), accentuate the development of indigenous innovation and entail the strengthening of IP protection.

Although collaborative efforts among the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Telecommunications and Information (NTIA), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (UPSTO), and Economic Development Administration (EDA) are forged in the United States to enhance patent protection, policy implementation in China calls for a wider mobilization of agencies and state departments. Meanwhile, China’s pilot project on constructing IP-robust provinces classifies provinces into three categories: leading, supportive, and characteristic. A study on these policy documents reveals that local governments are granted a level of autonomy in designing respective industrial policies.

Through this research opportunity, I have developed my data analytics skills by conducting a text mining with R on U.S. executive orders regarding IP published from 2014 to 2020 and generated a list of words that frequently appear in these documents. The most common word that I found was “trade”, which implies the significance of trade in determining U.S. IP policies. 

This research has helped me to fathom the interdependency between IP policies and national innovation strategies. Although I didn’t have enough time to analyze the impact of IP policies on diplomatic relations, the results from this study might be incorporated in my International Relations Senior Thesis. I’m immensely thankful for the generosity of Shanghai Dehehantong Law Firm for granting me access to their databases, the assistance from Ph.D. student Siyao Li and Professor Avery Goldstein at the Political Science Department, and the support from the CURF.