China hasn't exactly been vigorous in the protection of intellectual property rights.  In fact, they have a long history of turning a blind eye to patent infringement.  When China joined the World Trade Organization, they were supposed to step up their prosecution of those who violated  intellectual property rights.

As a recent story in Business Week has it, there's still a lot of work to do.  A Chinese car company is introducing some new models that look suspiciously like some of the models put out by BMW and Toyota.  An excerpt from the article:

The row was sparked by plans by the importer China Automobile Deutschland to present the Chinese cars CEO, UFO and Nobel -- which strongly resemble the BMW X5, Toyota RAV4 and the Smart Fortwo, respectively -- at next month's International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt. If the cars do appear at the show, then German car giants BMW and DaimlerChrysler may consider suing the Chinese manufacturers, according to a report in the German car industry magazine Automobilwoche.

Let's hope that companies like BMW and Toyota are successful in protecting their intellectual property.  In the meantime, this story only serves as a reminder as to how much more work is required to bring China up to international standards.