Opinion | US ban on Huawei goes against the fair-use understanding of intellectual property protection
- If an IP holder denies access to the technology by abusing its monopoly, it undermines confidence in the rights protection regime
- America’s move will hurt consumers and is a blow to the global value chain
A global economic superpower, the US has monopolised the core technologies of the world’s information and communications products. Without the operating systems designed by Apple, Google and Microsoft, for example, all computers and smartphones would just be a collection of electronic components and could not function as proper tools that are indispensable for our daily life today.
US companies unambiguously deserve the monopoly they command, which is a result of their huge investments in research and development in pursuit of innovation.
However, their monopoly rests on one condition. The protection of US companies’ intellectual property rights provided by other countries, including China, made it possible for these companies to earn handsome returns for their R&D investments. The intellectual property protection provided by foreign governments is actually a public good enjoyed by US companies.
There exists an implicit but widely accepted rule that, by protecting the intellectual property rights of US companies, Chinese companies would in turn be offered the right to use American technology through free and fair market transactions. The technology sanction on Huawei violates this rule.
At every given opportunity, the US has urged China to strengthen the protection of its intellectual property rights. If Chinese companies are deprived of the right to access US technology, why would they protect US intellectual property rights?