Abstract
Over the past 20 years, patenting in China has grown at a rapid rate, having notably surged since 1999. And yet China’s recent patent explosion has taken place in an institutional environment that is not known for the rule of law and rigorous protection of intellectual property rights. Such institutional deficiencies might have made it futile for inventors to obtain patents; or once obtained to find them worthless. This seeming paradox of weak property rights and a patenting explosion has prompted our investigation of the conditions that are motivating the rapid growth of patenting in China. While the speed of China’s patenting growth has been extraordinary, a number of authors have observed a worldwide surge in patenting, particularly that in the U.S.3 Still the U.S. annual rate of patenting of 6% since the mid-1980s compares modestly with the magnitude of China’s recent patent growth.