Xu Song recently became the proud owner of 799 Chinese furniture patents. The problem is, he admits, he did not invent the furniture: his neighbours made it first – and they copied it from Ikea anyway.
Designed by Ikea, copied by the neighbours, patented by Mr Xu: this may not be the kind of creative progression Beijing has in mind when Chinese leaders talk about building an economy based on innovation.
Yet, in a strange way, the fact that Mr Xu and his neighbours – former migrant workers and pig farmers in a Chinese village – are fighting over patents is a sign of the growing sophistication of the Chinese economy, legal experts say.
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