After a long and exhausting negotiation process, China joined the World Trade Organization ↑ (WTO) in 2001. Its accession implied the acceptance of different treaties regulating tariffs, services, and intellectual property rights. The latter agreement, referred to as TRIPS (Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights ↑ ) established a harmonization of the patent system across the globe requiring all member states to adopt a stronger regime for the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs). It was strongly pushed forward by a handful of large US multinational companies, supported by European and Japanese ones, in order to extend the patent regime in force in rich countries to all signatory states.
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