Amid the military posturing, economic sanctions, and political power struggles shaping the US-China rivalry, intellectual property ( IP ) disputes remain a major battleground.
In January 2025, Chinese firm DeepSeek’s latest AI design helped sweep US$ 1 trillion off the US property market by demonstrating how open-sourced collaboration—refining officially available AI technology—can rival proprietary models without huge investment.
DeepSeek, a major US AI firm, joined the chorus of US officials and businesses that have lengthy accused China of Internet fraud across various sectors.
Despite the fact that OpenAI itself claims to be protected by the fair use doctrine, it has been accused of using another copyrighted material without authorization to create its relational AI model.
The computer and newer technologies like AI and 3D printers allow creators to make, spread, and sell their work without conventional gatekeepers. However, these exact equipment expose these works to constant copyright and diminished power.
With scattered enforcement and tensions over protecting development and public access, globalization has further exacerbated Internet protection.
Globalization and Internet Safeguards
IP has withstanded previous modern hiccups, but today’s fast innovation in a multinational environment is tearing down outdated protections more quickly than policymakers may adapt.
The World Intellectual Property Organization ( WIPO ) has positioned itself as the key mediator to address 21st-century IP disputes involving countries, corporations, and individuals, but faces growing obstacles in keeping pace with the fast-moving changes.
Solid IP laws, according to advocates, promote innovation by allowing others to use existing work, protecting creators, and encouraging collaboration in a good system. Critics counter that these laws often favor big corporations and owners over customers and developing countries, prevent engagement, create monopolies, and limit access to important goods.
Global IP protections are still a relatively recent idea. They date back to ancient Greek recipe safeguards, but they have exploded in popularity since. The printing press revolutionized content distribution in the 15th century, and the Industrial Revolution later fueled invention, mass production, and transportation advances—alongside rampant IP theft. Post-independence, US entities frequently copied British industrial designs, accelerating industrial growth.
Pivotal agreements—like the Paris Convention ( 1883 ) for industrial property, the Berne Convention ( 1886 ) for literary and artistic works, and the Madrid Agreement ( 1891 ) for international registration—laid the foundation for today’s global IP framework.
WIPO, created in 1967, and the World Trade Organization ( WTO ), created in 1995, later emerged alongside other bodies to oversee the four main types of IP—patents ( inventions ), trademarks ( brand identity ), copyrights ( creative works ), and trade secrets ( like customer data and algorithms ).
Regulating a changing digital world
In response to the accelerating globalization in the 1990s, the WTO sought to harmonize trade regulations. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ( TRIPS) Agreement had a goal to standardize global IP protections, but it hasn’t succeeded in doing so.
Only WTO members can participate in the agreement, excluding some African, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian countries, and private actors. The WTO’s processes can be slow, with only a few disputes coming to an end. The majority of them are either stalled or resolved on terms agreed to by more powerful members.
TRIPS’s compulsory licensing allows third parties to produce patented inventions without the owner’s consent under specific conditions, but such measures often provoke retaliation. While pharmaceutical giant Abbott responded by withholding some of its products from the Thai market when Thailand issued a license for an HIV medication in 2007, the U.S. and the EU pressured it to backtrack.
Additionally, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs ) have sidestepped TRIPS enforcement. The North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ), for instance, curbed IP violations more effectively than WTO.
The United States’s unilateral actions, including “blocking the reappointment of Appellate Body members who were seen as not having’ served’ US interests sufficiently” ,—especially since 2019—have further weakened the system.
Domestic agencies like the US International Trade Commission ( USITC ) and the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office ( USPTO ), meanwhile, enforce their own IP standards, undermining TRIPS rules. China, with its newfound economic power, is following suit.
Perhaps TRIPS’s greatest challenge is keeping pace with emerging technologies. During WTO’s inception in 1995, the public internet was in its infancy. Today, digital piracy is widespread, with AI and 3D printing further disrupting traditional IP frameworks, causing TRIPS’s rigid structure to buckle under the weight of a rapidly evolving digital world.
Individual members have taken different approaches to their domestic legislation, from complete protection of AI-generated works to a requirement of human creativity that effectively leaves such works unprotected, as per the TRIPS agreement.
This patchwork will likely get worse as the share of cross-border intellectual property, including copyrights, is increasing, according to a 2023 article in the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
WIPO to the digital rescue?
WIPO, which became a UN-specialized agency in 1974, has positioned itself as the leading force in global IP protection. Unlike TRIPS, which enforces trade-based IP rules, WIPO oversees 27 broad IP treaties, including the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) for international patent applications and the Madrid System for trademark registration.
Rather than imposing strict enforcement, WIPO provides guidelines, training, and resources to strengthen IP laws and institutions. It collaborates with businesses and organizations like the USPTO and works with organizations like the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization to promote capacity-building in developing nations. It also adopts a cooperative approach to dispute resolution and harmonization.
Largely self-funded, WIPO derives most of its revenue from IP services and registrations, reducing reliance on member contributions and limiting external influence.
WIPO’s ability to navigate modern IP problems remains under scrutiny, with Covid-19 serving as a major test. Expanding the Access to Research for Development and Innovation ( ARDI) program, which provides developing nations with free or low-cost access to scientific journals, it also strengthened its PATENTSCOPE database for Covid-related patents. WIPO also sought to represent the WTO, which is supported by pharmaceutical companies and Western nations that favor stronger IP protections, and the WHO, which is led by India and South Africa, who are pushing for greater access to vaccines.
The 2022 waiver agreement, providing a” waiver of intellectual property ( IP ) protections for Covid-19 vaccine patents, “was widely seen as too limited and delayed, reinforcing perceptions that WIPO favored corporate and Western interests, even for generic medicines.
” Evergreening,” for example, where pharmaceutical companies make minor modifications to extend patent life and block generic competition, has been a consistent controversy within WIPO. This practice has also raised questions about how to balance IP law with human rights goals, particularly those that benefit poorer nations.
In 2013, WIPO launched its Green Marketplace to connect companies, researchers, and NGOs for green technology collaboration. This initiative followed the 2008 Eco-Patent Commons, an IBM-led effort offering free public patents that struggled due to patent limitations, narrow scope and low engagement.
WIPO’s marketplace saw greater success by more effectively building connections, tracking results, and providing funding, mediation, and other resources for long-term impact. Ongoing digitization remains a key WIPO challenge, requiring constant updates.
Online copyright issues are addressed by the 1996 WIPO Internet Copyright Treaties, and the 2009 introduction of the Digital Access Service ( DAS ) speeds up the secure exchange of documents internationally. WIPO PROOF, a 2020 digital timestamping service for IP protection, was discontinued in 2022 due to” poor demand, “reflecting WIPO’s willingness to experiment despite occasional setbacks.
WIPO has used an immutable, transparent ledger to track and verify asset ownership and changes in real-time to explore the potential for securing IP rights more than the WTO. In 2018, it launched a Blockchain Task Force, followed by a 2020 white paper outlining blockchain’s role in the entire IP lifecycle and smart contracts —self-executing agreements that enforce terms automatically when conditions are met.
The expansion of corporate and copyright control over the creation of digital IP laws has raised objections, with some critics claiming that it prioritizes profits over public benefits. The length of a copyright can be too long, which gives the user unnecessarily control over how to use it.
Although the majority of IP revenue is generated in the initial years, access can be revoked for roughly a century. For instance, Spotify, one of the fastest streaming services, generates a lot of money quickly, but long-term copyright frequently undercuts artists, as WIPO noted in its 2021 report on the expansion of Spotify’s copyright law.
However, WIPO has a limited amount of influence, and its slow progress toward more complex copyright issues has opened up room for other models promoted by organizations like Creative Commons and the Open Knowledge Foundation to develop alternative licensing strategies. These models frequently include free licensing, with the aim of allowing creators to have some control over how their work is used while allowing them to gain more access to IP-protected works.
Concerns also exist regarding 3D printing and AI. The ease of replicating physical objects with 3D printing complicates IP enforcement, and WIPO offers Alternative Dispute Resolution ( ADR) services, including mediation and arbitration, to help bring resolution. Experts concur that additional efforts are required despite the more than ten years of WIPO’s efforts to clarify and regulate 3D printing.
By obfuscating ownership and originality, AI poses a similar threat to IP. The 2020 convention of WIPO with stakeholders in AI and the 2024 Patent Landscape Report on AI aim to assist nations and businesses in developing policies for AI-related inventions. However, as with 3D printing, WIPO struggles to keep pace with technological advances.
The internet, as a global distributor, only accelerates unauthorized sharing, undermining the potential for effective oversight.
China’s tech space domination
Additionally, WIPO has trouble resolving disputes between China and the US. The rise in the number of Chinese tech companies and research institutions is revealed in its Patent Landscape Report. In 2023, global patent filings reached about 3.6 million, utility models were at 3.1 million, and industrial designs were at 1.5 million. China dominated most categories, with the US following.
However, while China submitted 1.46 million patent applications in 2022, less than 800, 000 were granted, indicating many were superficial or served limited purposes. Additionally, while China leads in patent applications, most are for domestic use. Less than a fifth of invention patents were filed in 2016 to protect novel, cutting-edge inventions, with the majority being brief-term utility or design patents that covered minor changes and were primarily intended for domestic use.
China still led in PCT ( international ) patents in 2023, filing roughly 70, 000 compared to more than 55, 000 from the US. However, with more than 242,000 filings of direct and PCT applications to foreign IP offices in 2023, China is in third place, behind Japan, with roughly 120, 000 filings.
Nonetheless, China is surging ahead in other areas. China filed 38, 000 GenAI patents between 2014 and 2023, surpassing all others combined ( the US was second at 6, 000 ). Additionally, according to WIPO data, China held more than half of all blockchain patents up to 2017.
China’s growing political influence in WIPO has become more evident. It prohibited several, largely European Wikimedia affiliates from becoming official observers at the WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in 2023, likely as a result of tensions over Taiwan. These growing rivalries are made worse by WIPO’s non-binding framework and reliance on voluntary cooperation, which limits its enforcement authority.
As global powers compete over IP protections, the high costs of filing, maintaining, and enforcing IP rights can be beyond the reach of smaller, less wealthy countries. Issues such as litigation, patent trolling, and overly broad patents can further overwhelm the matter. By failing to comprehend IP rules, vulnerable businesses can miss out on opportunities while also putting themselves at risk of legal action.
The WIPO’s Development Agenda, which was introduced in 2007, has so far had a mixed success in strengthening IP frameworks in developing nations. In Liberia, little progress has been made despite decades of WIPO involvement. At the 2024 WIPO Assemblies of member states, African countries renewed calls for greater technology transfers, knowledge sharing, and capacity-building programs.
WIPO faces significant obstacles in enforcing IP rights, maneuvering rapid technological advancements, and addressing issues over the access, equity, and politicization of global IP infrastructure. These obstacles are likely to increase as a result of intensified geopolitical rivalries.
Despite this, WIPO can point to its success in expanding global IP frameworks, dispute resolution, and record-high patent filings. Despite the fact that IP theft will continue to be a problem, WIPO’s adaptability and inclusive approach have helped it maintain its relevance and effectiveness in a constantly changing environment.
Its ability to strike a balance between promoting access to knowledge, technology, and essential goods while maintaining a balance in the future of global IP governance will determine its contribution.
John P Ruehl is an Australian-American journalist living in Washington, DC, and a world affairs correspondent for the Independent Media Institute. He is a contributor to several foreign affairs publications, and his book”, Budget Superpower: How Russia Challenges the West With an Economy Smaller Than Texas ‘”, was published in December 2022.
This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and is republished with permission.