Can Trump stop China's IP 'theft'?

US President Donald Trump has announced he would slap wide-ranging tariffs on imports of Chinese goods, accusing Beijing of stealing American intellectual property. "We have a tremendous intellectual property theft situation going on," said Trump before signing his executive memorandum on Thursday.

To grasp what is at stake, one needs to understand what intellectual property really is. "Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions; literary and artistic works; and symbols, names and images used in commerce," according to the World Intellectual Property Organization, an intergovernmental body set up to promote the protection of IP worldwide.

That means if a person or a company comes up with a new idea or product, or a process that offers a new way of doing something, then they are granted an exclusive right over the use of their creation for a certain period of time. IP rights are generally enforced by granting patents, trademarks and copyrights to the originators of innovative ideas.

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In recent years, complaints by American and European firms about the lax IP regime and copycat culture in China have been growing louder. They accuse Chinese pirates and counterfeiters of faking their creations and tricking customers into believing that they are buying legitimate products. Whereas counterfeits misappropriate brand names, copies imitate original items but are clearly branded differently to show they are from different producers.

An example of Chinese copying relates to the iPhone. While America's Apple gave the world the popular phone, China came up with the HiPhone — a much cheaper replica of the original product.