u/B-RapShoeStrap

A Waffler.

You hear this a lot. "China is stealing our technology."

But my understanding is that patents are published to the public. And US patent protection is only for commercial use in the US. So someone in China can read a US patent, and build/sell that exact invention in China with nothing illegal happening.

If someone imports the invention to the US and sells it, they would be infringers, but that could be anyone, a US citizen, Nigerian citizen, anyone, AND that's a customs/import issue, not really China "stealing" the technology.

Is it just political fodder? Or is there actually theft of IP happening? Can someone ELI5 imported good infringement liability from a patent law context?