TYGlobe

font-weight:bold;Abstract: Against the macro backdrop of the continuous development of import and export trade, China has now successfully transformed from a developing country engaged in import and export trade into a leading export trading power, with the share of Chinese products in foreign markets showing a continuous growth trend. Against this background, China has recorded a relatively large trade surplus with some countries. To maintain their leading positions in the international trade system, some developed countries have imposed intellectual property rights (IPR) trade barriers on China. This paper elaborates on the importance of intellectual property rights in international trade, analyzes several common or typical types of IPR trade barriers in international trade, and puts forward targeted countermeasures and suggestions, with a view to providing guidance for enterprises to better carry out international trade, and enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises and even China in the international market.

font-weight:bold;Keywords: International Trade; Intellectual Property Rights Trade; Trade Barriers; Coping Strategies

Along with the vigorous development of the global economy, international trade is also growing at an increasingly faster pace. Since the advent of the knowledge economy era, the proportion of transactions involving all intangible assets such as patents and trademarks in international trade has shown a trend of continuous growth. The higher the level of a country's economic development and the more advanced its technologies, the larger the share of such transactions in its export trade will be. Conversely, if a country lags behind in both economic development and technological level, such transactions will account for a larger proportion in its import trade[1]. With the advantages of relatively low risk coefficient and capacity to generate excess profits, intellectual property rights have become an important instrument for all countries to participate in competition, and are recognized as the commanding height of international competition. At present, countries around the world are paying increasing attention to intellectual property rights, and have elevated them to the level of national strategy, striving to continuously enhance their own competitiveness through the research and development of high-value-added products, so as to hold a dominant position in international trade.

I. The Importance of Intellectual Property Rights in International Trade

Based on the specific forms of commodities, international trade is mainly divided into two categories: visible trade and invisible trade. Traditional trade in the past was more inclined to the former. From the perspective of transaction objects, the former refers to tangible commodities such as clothing and mechanical equipment; the latter involves no physical transaction objects, covering technologies and services including the right to use patents, cross-border financial and insurance services, etc.[2] Modern international trade does not stipulate a clear boundary between visible trade and invisible trade, and transactions are generally a mixture of the two forms. For example, transactions of tangible commodities are usually accompanied by the assignment of patent use rights, trademark licensing and other related acts.

Initially, intellectual property rights (IPR) and international trade were two categories of businesses with no obvious connection. However, against the backdrop of the sustained development of the knowledge-based economy and the growing public awareness of international IPR protection, the correlation between IPR and international trade has become increasingly prominent. In particular, the conclusion of IPR agreements has further directly incorporated key IPR-related content into the scope of international trade administration.

Intellectual property rights (IPR) mainly correspond to the internal resources of enterprises, and are essentially a critical component of international trade. As the name suggests, IPR trade takes intellectual property rights as the object of transaction in the conduct of international trade activities. Along with the rapid advancement of economic globalization, the scale of IPR trade in international trade has shown a year-on-year growth trend. In particular, the legal protection of IPR has been internationalized in recent years, and IPR represented by patents, trademarks and other forms has developed at an even faster pace, claiming an increasingly prominent position in international trade. On the one hand, the exceptionally rapid development of IPR trade indicates that the knowledge-oriented development trend of current international trade has become increasingly salient. On the other hand, this objective fact also reflects that against the backdrop of the deepening new technological revolution in recent years, IPR trade has now evolved into a key instrument for countries to carry out international economic competition.

**II. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Trade Barriers in International Trade**

(I) Technical Standard-based Barriers

Technology standard-based barriers mainly refer to the corresponding laws and regulations formulated and implemented by the host country in intellectual property rights (IPR) trade for the purpose of enhancing the technological competitiveness of products or restricting imports. They are classified into the category of barriers formed on the basis of the formulation of strict technical standards, and constitute a highly prominent and common type of manifestation of great significance among IPR trade barriers. Such barriers integrate IPR and technical standards, and have very significant defensive and damaging effects. In the process of various countries promoting trade protectionism, such barriers serve as the most important means and the most advanced form[3].

(II) Trademark Squatting-type Barriers

Trademark squatting refers mainly to the act of obtaining illegitimate interests that do not belong to the perpetrator by improper means. To put it another way, it is the act of acquiring interests that the perpetrator is not originally entitled to by preemptively registering trademarks and other rights that have been used by others in a certain field and have gained corresponding influence. In recent years, the incidence of trademark squatting has remained at a high level. From the perspective of international market development, the popularity of China's trademarks and brands has been growing continuously. On this account, trademark squatting has become a relatively common type of intellectual property trade barrier adopted by some foreign enterprises to prevent China's goods from entering host country markets or slow down such entry, as well as to suppress China's goods.

(III) Patent Knowledge-based Barriers

As mentioned above, technology standard-based barriers are a category of intellectual property right (IPR) trade barriers frequently encountered by enterprises in China in international trade, while patent-based IPR barriers rank as the second most common type only after the aforesaid barriers. Among IPR trade barriers, patent-based IPR barriers mainly refer to the practice where a country or an enterprise, by virtue of the patent protection system, sets up patent application traps for other countries or enterprises, and files lawsuits against product manufacturers on the ground of patent infringement, so as to effectively reduce the number of competitors and claim high patent royalties at the same time. Such barriers have highly salient exclusive attributes. No entity may use the relevant patents on any ground without authorization, otherwise patent infringement will be constituted.

(IV) U.S. "Section 337" Related Barriers

"Section 337" is the abbreviation of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 of the United States. As a key provision of the Tariff Act of 1930, it is currently codified in Section 1337, Title 19 of the United States Code. It is mainly applied to prohibit acts of unfair competition in import trade, especially acts infringing upon U.S. intellectual property rights, including patent rights, trademark rights, copyrights, industrial designs, layout-designs of integrated circuits, among others. The U.S. Section 337 investigation, which aims to strictly supervise and regulate all unfair competition and trade acts, is an administrative remedy investigation carried out within the territory of the United States. At present, the scope of such investigation has been expanded significantly: it covers not only commodities in the United States, but also cross-border commodities. It has developed into a worldwide means of tracing infringement acts, a relatively representative type of intellectual property trade barriers, and an important tool for the United States to suppress its competitors. Its core objective is to vigorously safeguard the United States' international trade status, so as to obtain greater benefits in international trade.

font-weight:bold;III. Strategies for Responding to Intellectual Property Rights Trade Barriers in International Tradefont-weight:bold;

For any commercial enterprise, profit maximization is the core objective of its operation and development. At present, human society has entered the era of knowledge-based economy, and the importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) is growing with each passing day. IPR has now developed into a highly active element among all types of factors of production, capable of facilitating the creation of extremely high value. In the operation and development of enterprises, it serves as an important tool for enterprises to scientifically and effectively constrain competitors, enhance their own competitiveness, and ultimately achieve the goal of exclusive market occupation [4]. In essence, IPR exists as the core competitiveness of enterprises. In order to realize a scientific and effective response to IPR-related trade barriers in international trade, enterprises shall carry out the following work:

(I) Develop the Capacity for Coordinated Utilization of Intellectual Property Rights

The capacity for coordinated application of intellectual property rights (IPR) is, in essence, the capacity to deliver scientific and effective responses to policy control. The so-called policy control, for the most part, refers to adopting corresponding means and measures to regulate international treaties involving technology transactions and other sectors in the process of referencing and applying specific international IPR rules, which bears a high possibility of affecting national industrial security. IPR-endowed industries usually have relatively long industrial chains. The innovation ecosystems of such industries cover a wide range of elements, mainly including participants, rights relating to innovation activities, and the economic and social environment for innovation. To achieve the key objective of fully and effectively responding to IPR-related trade barriers, enterprises shall focus on the continuous enhancement of their own capabilities, build the capacity for coordinated IPR application based on the innovation ecosystem (see Figure 1), accurately position industrial agglomeration areas with corresponding competitive advantages, and vigorously carry out the construction of national or regional innovation ecosystem capabilities. From the perspective of the innovation ecosystem, it realizes full coverage of leading industrial enterprises, patent alliance administrators and other entities externally, and carries out more in-depth research and development (R&D) work internally with the strong support of industries, manufacturing systems and other relevant aspects.

Figure 1 Capacity for Collaborative Utilization of Intellectual Property Rights

(II) Intensify Efforts in Research and Development

Enterprises shall adopt appropriate measures to further carry out domestic and international patent application work. Although some enterprises in China have delivered relatively outstanding performance in the creation and utilization of intellectual property rights (IPR), analysis of the current actual situation shows that a considerable number of enterprises still face the problem of insufficient IPR awareness to a certain extent. In response to this situation, enterprises shall increase R&D investment, carry out targeted publicity on the importance of IPR, comprehensively raise the awareness of all employees on the importance of IPR trade, and apply for domestic and even international patents with higher enthusiasm and initiative.

(III) Raise Awareness of Intellectual Property Rights Protection

In international trade, the incidence of infringement in intellectual property (IP) trade remains relatively high. An analysis of the current actual situation shows that a large number of enterprises lack sufficient awareness of IP rights protection, and are still obviously caught in a passive position when facing infringements. In the process of IP trade, when confronted with infringement incidents, they have no idea what IP tools to use and how to properly use such tools to take efficient and targeted action against infringing competitors. Under such circumstances, when foreign enterprises sue enterprises from China in court, most enterprises in China do not know how to reverse their passive position by resorting to laws, regulations and tools including the *Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China* and the patent invalidation system. To fully and effectively address this problem, enterprises shall comprehensively and effectively raise their awareness of IP rights protection, learn to protect their legitimate rights and interests through IP strategies, and actively respond to litigation once disputes arise. In addition, enterprises shall also develop a scientific IP early warning mechanism to avoid duplicate technology research and development, so as to scientifically safeguard their own rights. With the patent early warning mechanism in place, the enterprise's supervision personnel shall promptly alert the decision-making level of abnormal situations, enabling the latter to accurately grasp key information such as possible major patent disputes and the degree of harm within the shortest possible time, and take effective response measures accordingly, so as to comprehensively improve their capacity to prevent and resolve major patent disputes.

(IV) Seek State and Policy Support

As is widely known, China's economy has achieved remarkable development since the implementation of the reform and opening-up strategy, and China has now become a major trade export country. It shall be acknowledged, however, that China's current exported products are still dominated by products with medium and low technological content. While the achievements of China's international trade are obvious to all, enterprises are still subject to obvious constraints from multiple factors when participating in international trade, which mainly include imbalance between resource supply and demand, relatively extensive development mode, and insufficient competitiveness of enterprises. Under the combined effect of the above factors, not only the development of enterprises themselves is restricted, but also China's overall international trade is constrained, leading to problems such as imbalance between imports and exports. In response to this situation, enterprises shall continue to intensify efforts to adjust their operation and development modes, formulate development strategies and systems scientifically, and ensure the effectiveness of implementation. On the one hand, the adjustment of enterprise structure shall be accelerated. Under the active and effective guidance of national policies, enterprises shall increase R&D investment in a targeted manner, seek financial support from the government and relevant departments, and accelerate their process of moving into emerging technology industrial clusters. In particular, emerging high-tech enterprises in sectors such as the Internet of Things and new energy vehicles shall strictly formulate sound long-term development plans, and contribute to the accurate grasp of the trend of China's economic globalization through continuous efforts. On the other hand, intellectual property pilot and demonstration work shall be actively promoted. In recent years, China has continuously improved and refined the legal and regulatory system for intellectual property trade. Against this macro background, enterprises shall also fully enhance their awareness of intellectual property protection, devote more resources to the development of intellectual property protection work, continuously strengthen their innovation motivation and capabilities in the process of continuous exploration and practice, actively respond to the national call, implement intellectual property pilot and demonstration work in depth, and provide important reference for other relevant enterprises based on the accumulation of their own excellent experience.

font-weight:bold;IV. Conclusion

In China's international trade, the adverse impacts of intellectual property rights (IPR) trade barriers shall not be overlooked, and effective measures shall be taken to address such impacts. Enterprises shall devote more energy and financial resources to research and development (R&D), constantly accelerate the pace of product renewal and upgrading, and fully generate the added value of products. In particular, it shall be noted that responding to IPR trade barriers is not only a matter to be considered by enterprises, but shall also be given greater attention at the national level. Relevant government departments shall intensify efforts to cultivate high-caliber talents in the field of intellectual property rights, and continuously improve the level of scientific and technological innovation with talents as the support, so as to ensure that international trade enterprises steadily enhance their core competitiveness. Furthermore, China shall establish and improve relevant laws and regulations, take effective measures to provide protection for enterprises, and better align itself with relevant laws and regulations on international IPR protection. In the meantime, China shall accelerate the adjustment of industrial structure, give full play to its important role in the transformation and upgrading of enterprises to the maximum extent, and enhance the export competitiveness of independent products in international trade through reasonable and effective cost control.

font-weight:bold;Referencesfont-weight:bold;

[1] WANG Hua, JIN Minghao. Research on Paths for Enterprises to Improve Intellectual Property Rights Capabilities in Response to International Trade Barriers — Based on Multi-case Analysis [J]. Productivity Research, 2023, (10): 118-125.

[2] Li Dajiang. Analysis of the Characteristics, Forms and Impacts of Intellectual Property Rights Barriers [J]. Science, Technology and Economic Market, 2014(4): 142.

[3] Xu Yuan. The Nature of Intellectual Property Rights Trade Barriers and Its Analysis from the Perspective of International Political Economy[J]. Pacific Journal, 2012, 20(2): 61-73.

[4] Zhao Yanling. Intellectual Property Rights Trade Barriers in International Trade and Corresponding Countermeasures[J]. Journal of Luohe Vocational Technology College, 2012, 11(1): 80-82.