Protection of intellectual property rights is essential for businesses to conduct their affairs and government would be negligent if it failed to protect those rights.

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Innovation and the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) go hand in hand, and are two topics that come up frequently in discussions about China.

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U.S. negotiators to the U.S.-Soviet Trade Agreement were reportedly unable to obtain assurances from the Soviets on two key items of concern to the American business community: (1) profit repatriation, and (2) protection of intellectual property rights.

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And, finally, the protection of intellectual property rights has improved significantly, and that should help local entrepreneurs and foreign entities set up shop in China without the fear that they are days away from having their intellectual property ripped off.

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As a place to do business, the United States offers a hardworking, diverse, and educated workforce, strong protection of intellectual property rights, a predictable and transparent legal system, relatively low taxes, highly developed infrastructure, and access to the world's most lucrative consumer market.

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He suggests that political and military espionage can be dealt with at the diplomatic level, which I have long supported, and that economic espionage should be approached in ways analogous to and derived from current frameworks for the regulation and protection of intellectual property rights.

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The proposal was not accepted but one year later, a governmental experts meeting, organized with the assistance of UNESCO and WIPO in Tunis, started working on the draft of a model law referring to the protection of intellectual property rights applicable to such cultural manifestations.

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"We have a very good working relationship with the Chinese authorities, " Lucy Nichols, Nokia's global director of intellectual property rights and brand protection, told CNN.

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And one of the problems that we have had is insufficient protection for intellectual property rights.

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