Speaking last Wednesday at a breakfast briefing for the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and later the same day at a public lecture for the Hong Kong IP Department Lehman, now of counsel at Whiteford Taylor Preston in Washington, spoke about how the Obama administration’s IP policies may affect China and the rest of Asia.

Lehman was head of the USPTO from 1993 to 1998, during the previous Democratic administration under former president Bill Clinton. During this time the TRIPs Agreement was finalised, the DMCA passed into law and WIPO’s two copyright treaties were developed.

Lehman said that there was a widespread perception among Democrats that the US lowered its trade barriers in 1994 in the expectation that it would be able to switch to exporting high-tech products but, because IP protection remains poor in many countries, it hasn’t been able to do this.

“The bargain we thought we made in 1994 hasn’t worked out as we expected,” he said.