This article assesses the compliance of China’s domestic laws in the area of intellectual property rights protection with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which China obliged to accept upon its entrance into the WTO. It also discusses the implications which result from the implementation and enforcement of the intellectual property rights in China for doing business in China. The significance of intellectual property rights protection for achieving the strategic objects formulated by China’s policy-makers and China’s reputation in the world is tackled, as well. Qualitative research based on the concept of compliance showed that China’s compliance with its TRIPS obligation should be evaluated with respect to different country-specific as well as country non-specific factors. However, the experience from the historical development of the leading world inventors, such as Japan or the United Kingdom, should also be considered.

I. Introduction
 II. Intellectual Property Rights:From GATT to WTO
  A. The First Steps in the Global IPRs Protection
  B. IPRs Protection under the WTO
 III. China’s IPRs under the WTO :Commitments and Compliance
 IV. China’s Compliance with the TRIPSAgreement
 V. China’s IPRs Protection under the WTODispute Settlement Mechanism
 VI. Conclusion and Recommendations
 References

• Lenka Fojtíková(Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics of the VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic)