For the past nine months, China has taken great steps in the interest of protecting intellectual property. The country is notorious for producing a plethora of counterfeit goods and pirated materials, and China had garnered a reputation in years past as doing little to prevent the illegal activity.

But its recent crackdown, which started in October 2010 and wrapped up last month, uncovered approximately $2 billion in counterfeit and pirated goods. Additionally, with nearly 80 percent of software installed on computers in China being pirated, the country is inspecting all of its government agencies to ensure employees' software programs are legitimate. The government has also spent nearly $60 million in operating system, office and anti-virus software as a step in the right direction.

Read more about China's crackdown in IP violations.