USA: According to the Wall Street Journal, Chinese courts are invalidating Western firms' patents in industries deemed critical to the country. According to the outlet, officials in the United States and the European Union have once again accused China of stealing Western technologies.

According to the officials, Beijing is using its courts and patent panels to infringe on foreign intellectual-property rights while also assisting Chinese businesses, and the efforts are centred on industries critical to the country, such as technology, pharmaceuticals, and rare-earth minerals.

According to the media outlet, a Chinese legal panel invalidated a decade-old patent held by a US manufacturer of X-ray equipment, while an unnamed Spanish mobile-antenna designer lost a similar battle in a Shanghai court.

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According to reports, another Chinese court ruled that a Japanese conglomerate violated antitrust laws by refusing to licence its technology to a Chinese rival.

The conflict is centred on the growing competition for technological and economic superiority between the United States and China. The United States has imposed an increasing number of restrictions on China's technological industries. Washington banned chip exports to China in October.

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Beijing, for its part, has accused its rival of politicising science and technology in order to maintain US dominance in those fields. While the US has repeatedly accused China of stealing US technologies and misusing them for military purposes.

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