Abstract:     Product quality is an important support for promoting the highquality development of China′s foreign trade and accelerating the construction of a trading powerhouse. It is also an intrinsic driving force for the growth in export quantity and enhancement of competitiveness. This paper utilized the micro-level data obtained from unfair import investigations of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database, and the Chinese Customs Database. Through the application of the Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach, it empirically analyzed the impact of intellectual property investigations on the export product quality of involved Chinese enterprises. The research findings are as follows: (1) intellectual property registration investigations have a significant positive effect on the export product quality of Chinese enterprises under investigation. This is mainly attributed to the external pressure faced by these enterprises. In order to maintain their market share in the United States, they were forced to engage in technological innovation and internal product structure perfection, thereby improving the quality of their export products; (2) When the final ruling of an intellectual property investigation is unfavorable, the investigated enterprises will face several challenges. High litigation costs, financing pressure due to reduced sales in the United States, and potential trade diversions to non-US markets all work against the improvement of their export product quality; (3) Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the impact of intellectual property investigations on export product quality varies depending on the degree of reliance on the US market by the enterprises. Compared with the enterprises with high reliance on the US market, it was found that intellectual property registration investigations have a relatively limited promotional effect on the product quality of the enterprises with low reliance on the US market, while the negative impact of a final ruling loss on their export product quality is relatively small. This paper has extended the research on how external demand shocks affect the export product quality of enterprises, with a focus on micro-level analysis. Additionally, it will offer some practical guidance for the Chinese government in developing a system to prevent and control risks associated with foreign intellectual property. It will also suggest some means to establish mechanisms for the protection of overseas intellectual property rights for enterprises.

Key words: intellectual property investigation, export enterprise, product quality