The issue of common intellectual property ownership is therefore even more complex when the same IP product is protected in several jurisdictions, because different countries have different IP laws. In addition, parties based in different countries that deal with common ownership in accordance with their individual national laws may have very different expectations and/or experiences as to what it means to be a co-owner. The function of a brand is to identify the source of goods or services. Common ownership of the trademark is less common than common ownership of patents or copyrights. If it occurs, it jeopardizes the basic identification of the brand`s sources. Many businessmen, and even experienced lawyers and practitioners, lack a thorough assessment of what common ownership actually means in practice, but they still accept it because „it seems right“ or „it`s always been done that way.“ In reality, common ownership of intellectual property is fraught with danger and is contrary to general perception, often unfair and, worse, generally unenforceable. China`s patent law was first passed in 1984 and amended twice since then, in 1992 and 2000. China passed the third amendment to the PRC Patent Act in 2008, which came into force in 2009. One of the significant changes to this amendment was co-ownership, as the current legislation did not address the rights of patent co-owners. The new law now contains a provision that defines the rights of patent co-owners. It provides that a co-owner, unless the co-owners agree otherwise, has the right to operate the common patent alone or to grant a non-exclusive licence to a third party for the operation of that patent, and that all royalty taxes resulting from such a licence must be distributed among all co-owners.

All other types of common patent operations must be agreed upon by all co-owners. Therefore, under this new law, the granting or issuance of an exclusive license for a common patent must be agreed upon by all the co-owners of that patent.