Trump is right about Chinese IP theft

The Tribune-Review ^ | July 27, 2019 | Sean Brady

[edwinland]

Between a professor of economics at a prestigious university and President Trump, who should you trust to choose his words carefully, check his sources and quote reliable figures? The answer might surprise you.

Case in point: George Mason University Professor Donald Boudreaux’s recent op-ed “Chinese IP ‘theft’ doesn’t justify Trump’s tariffs” (July 20, TribLIVE). Notice the word “theft” in quotes? That’s because Boudreaux believes that Trump is exaggerating the case for tariffs by exaggerating the extent of Chinese “theft.”

According to Boudreaux, “the extent of such theft is overblown” because “Much of this ‘theft’ is in fact in-kind taxation. Beijing requires that certain foreign companies seeking to do business in China share their intellectual property with the Chinese. Companies that attach a high value to the opportunity to do business in that large country often agree to these terms. But IP belonging to companies that are willing to forego the opportunity to operate in China is not stolen or otherwise acquired by the Chinese.”

Boudreaux concludes that IP acquired through forced technology transfers “does not count as stolen property.”

There’s only one problem: Trump never said it did.

[edwinland]

Good analysis of the professional chattering class just assuming Trump doesn't know what he's talking about, when in fact it's Trump who is sticking to the facts and speaking very accurately about a fairly complex topic.

[Diogenesis]

the usual suspects in the corrupt USPTO
continue to play a part in the transfer.

they belong in prison.

[BuffaloJack]

The USA needs to return to the days when IP rights went to the first to invent. During the Obama Era, IP rights belong to the first to file. This means some person gets an entry level job with your company, takes notes on what you are doing research into and files for a patent himself or sends your note to China where they patent your stuff before you.
Even if you are able to get a patent, the Chinese simply log in to USPTO.GOV and make copies of everything, without every worrying about licensing.