Wednesday, 28 June 2017 In the Australian legal market we have already seen the perceived increasing importance of China with the merger that created King & Wood Mallesons, together with several other law firm alliances which build strength in the China and Asian region. Most lawyers I have spoken to have described this as being "ground breaking" and "brave" but none have been able to argue that China will not be an ever increasing force that they will have to deal with. The element that I hadn't previously focussed on is the amount of outbound Chinese investment; whilst this is still relatively small compared with the outbound investment from the US and the EU, it is very focussed in infrastructure and resources. Whilst patents don’t represent true “off shore investment” the fact that China has surpassed the US in patent applications represents a significant shift in the type of Chinese trade and investment interaction with the rest of the world. The old idea that, as far as Intellectual Property is concerned, China was all about "real fakes" and hijacking Western brands, will need to change as Chinese businesses and individuals increasingly use IP as both a defensive and offensive business strategy.