This note considers the legal approaches adopted by the authorities in Hong Kong (’HK’) and the People’s Republic of China (’PRC’) to protect intellectual property rights. It is not intended to detail legislation exhaustively since readers can always refer to the statutes themselves. Rather, the note examines the rationales of the two approaches and the possible directions the law might take in the future. Accordingly, the discussion will be confined conveniently to the three traditional areas of intellectual property law: copyright, trademark and patent.