Intellectual property rights iprs have been acknowledged and protected in china since the 1980s china has acceded to the major international conventions on protection of rights to intellectual propertydomestically protection of intellectual property law has also been established by government legislation administrative regulations and decrees in the areas of trademark copyright and . Intellectual property protection in china is a major concern for foreign businesses and a key target for establishment reforms in march 2018 the national peoples congress approved setting up the state administration for market regulation samr which governs chinas national intellectual property administration cnipa. Keywords intellectual property rights innovation rule of law china introduction in recent years a significant debate has developed between china and the united states over intellectual property rights iprs the united states has accused china of failing to meet its obligations under the trade related aspects of intellectual property rights trips agreement that exists within the world . Intellectual property ip is a longstanding critical concern for companies operating in china ip enforcement has consistently placed among the top handful of issues raised by us china business council uscbc member companies every year in uscbcs annual membership survey