The United States doesn’t understand much about free markets. If it did, people here would realize that patents and copyrights are big government, not the free market. China is trying to teach this lesson to Apple. As the Post reports, a Chinese firm is filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple.

This is undoubtedly the first of many such suits. Strong patent laws are likely to create many high-paying jobs for lawyers, however they are almost certainly an impediment to innovation in the 21st century. Unfortunately, because protectionists so completely dominate public debate, fundamental reform of patent policy is not even being considered by leading political figures in either political party.