中國大陸將智慧財產權(intellectual property right)譯為知識產權，並在 近年迅速發展知識產權的法學體系，相關著作甚多。在台灣則主要發展放在著作權法，近年研究者眾，成書也不少。本文討論智慧財產權的三大主要部門:著作權、專利權及商標權。兩岸接觸以來，法律上互相保障財產權，但侵權行為和糾紛所在難免，本文特別以一節敘述兩岸著作權之糾紛。時潮向國際化、自由化、法治化發展，保護智慧財產權乃一八八六年伯恩公約(Berne Convention)以降，直到一九八六年關貿協定(GATT)烏拉圭宣言所樹立 的原則，加上近年來美國分別向兩岸施壓，兩岸政府也配合立法，確定了尊重智慧財產權的決心，下一步就是兩岸政府如何向人民宣導守法了。大陸法治觀念較差，因而大陸人民/公司侵權行為也多於台灣人民/公司，因此兩岸恢復辜汪會議的定期接觸後，未來有必要以政府力量來督促雙方業界，以加強兩岸在保護智慧財產權方面之交流。

Ever since the conclusion of the Berne Convention in 1886， the major countries in the world have worked for the protection of intellectual property rights. In the 1986 Uruguay declaration， the member states of the GATT continued to pledge their support for this work. Intellectual property rights consist mainly of three parts: the copyright， patent， and trade mark.

Following the tide of internationalization， liberalization， and legalization， the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have in the past years adopted a series of measures to enhance their efforts to protect intellectual property rights. They have also instituted laws to protect each other's intellectual property. However， since “ruleby law" is not yet fully practiced on the mainland， there have been numerous cases of infringement on the mainland side of Taiwan's intellectual property. This is a question that needs to be improved in the course of exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.