DOWNTOWN : Chinese Jurist in U.S. to Study Laws

A Chinese Supreme Court justice who is spearheading China’s modernization of trademark, copyright and patent protection laws visited Los Angeles last week to meet law and business professionals and to promote business opportunities in his country.

Justice Zongyi Fei, a member of China’s Supreme People’s Court, spent four days in Los Angeles learning how to strengthen intellectual property laws--those that protect patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets--in his country. American business professionals, in turn, got a progress report on China’s fast-growing markets.

Fei also spoke Wednesday on technology trade and protection of Chinese intellectual property rights at a luncheon seminar at the Hotel Inter-Continental.

The smiling, white-haired Fei said this was his second trip to the United States but his first to Los Angeles. His impressions of the city might surprise some residents: “It’s very beautiful, very large . . . and very orderly,” the justice said with the help of an interpreter.

Fei was appointed to China’s highest court in 1989 and has been instrumental in upgrading China’s intellectual property laws.

The concept of copyright, trademark and patent protection is understandably foreign to the Communist government, said attorney Billy Robbins, who organized Fei’s trip and whose Downtown law firm of Robbins, Berliner & Carson specializes in intellectual property protection.

When China passed its first patent law in 1984, it excluded chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other key products from protection, Robbins said. American businesses have also complained of widespread theft of technology and counterfeiting of software in China.

Thanks in large part to Fei’s efforts, the Chinese government has toughened its laws, said Robbins, who has advised Chinese government officials on the subject. The patent law was amended in 1992 to include agrichemicals and pharmaceuticals, and the copyright law was amended to protect software, Robbins said.

Robbins, who also travels to China regularly with firm associate Ying-Kit Lau to teach seminars on technology transfer and trade to Chinese business professionals, said he arranged Fei’s visit so that local business people can see how open China is to American trade.

“We want our clients to recognize they need to go to China and start businesses,” said Robbins. “It’s the only country in the world with a 10% (economic) growth.”