India's well-established framework for protecting intellectual property rights has been an important inducement to business investment: well-known international trademarks have been protected by Indian laws, even when they were not registered in India. In 1999, major legislation was passed to protect intellectual property rights in harmony with international practices and in compliance with India's obligations under TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual PropertyRights).

According to administrator of investment in China at the OECD Ken Davis, China, was late as compared to its asian nations such as India, Thiailand in attracting MNCs on its main land. One key reason was that these companies were concerned about intellectual property rights protection. It can be argued that China's legal system and intellectual property rights protection environment were not up to the standards demanded by foreign investors, but China is now working to improve these areas. Vice-Premier Wu Yi had said at a recent international investment forum that China was committed to strengthening its intellectual property rights protection, improving its laws and regulations on foreign investment and providing a stable, transparent and efficient administrative environment to attract more foreign investment.[13]

ASEAN countries have also worked together in enhancing IPR protection, and in creating lasting awareness among stakeholders and the general public. The ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (WGIPR) has contributed to all these efforts. Efforts to improve the IP policy framework include monitoring the conformance of Member Countries' IP legislation to the TRIPS Agreement; consolidation of listing of patent and law enforcement agencies for networking purposes among the Member Countries; simplification of IP administration systems, plus the strengthening of procedures and remedies against IPR infringements; and regular exchange of IP policy experiences.