IPR Enforcement in China via Inversed Trojan Horse: LVMH Invites China Investment Corporation to Take An Equity Stake

March 16, Tim LeeMaster wrote for the South China Morning Post, the English language newspaper of Hong Kong, that China Investment Corporation is considering to take an equity stake of 10 percent in the French luxury goods company LVMH. Head tip to the China Economic Review, read here.

Let's speculate what an eventual deal could bring the LVMH group:

1. Cash (the 10 percent equity is valued between 788 million and 3.1 billion US dollar);

2. Better access to the Chinese markets;

3. The intellectual property rights of LVMH, which include trademarks, design-patents and copyrights of the Louis Vuitton brand, are one of the most infringed intellectual property rights in China. To make LVMH partly Chinese, could prove to be master stroke, since it could help improve the enforcement of LVMH's intellectual property rights in China.