Student Work

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-19-2017

Abstract

A 2016-2017 William Prize for best essay in East Asian Studies was awarded to Max Goldberg (Pierson College '17) for his essay submitted to the Ethics, Politics, & Economics Program, "Enclave of Ingenuity: The Plan and Promise of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court.” (Frances Rosenbluth, Damon Wells Professor of Political Science, and Paul Gewirtz, Potter Stewart Professor of Law, advisors.)

Max Goldberg’s thesis, Enclave of Ingenuity: The Plan and Promise of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, examines in depth one of the most interesting institutions in today’s China – an experimental court that stands at the intersection of China’s complex paths of legal development and economic reform. Goldberg argues that domestic and international developments now make it in China’s interests both to strengthen protection of intellectual property as a driver of innovation and economic development and to greatly strengthen the role of courts in that process in spite of the weakness of China’s courts in many other areas. Goldberg’s paper sheds important new light on the paradox of Chinese legal reform in an authoritarian state: the government wants rule of law in some but not all domains. This is a remarkable contribution by an undergraduate, who has mastered Mandarin, Chinese politics, and an unusual amount of Chinese law to develop this innovative project.

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