CHINA ESQUIRE

China has been trying to crack down on intellectual property violations for some time now. (a friend of mine used to do this sort of stuff for a living and he has some exciting stories) That being said, it seems that to the west (and not just America), China can never win. It’s IP enforcement is never good enough. And so we constantly hear “China’s IPR violations blah blah blah…” Let’s just think about this for a moment in light of articles like these.

The AP recently published an article entitled “China defends anti-piracy efforts” ( h/t to China Digital Times):

Officials defended China’s efforts to stop rampant copying of movies and other goods, saying Thursday that 4,322 people were convicted of product piracy last year and promising special efforts to protect Olympics-related trademarks.

China is the world’s biggest source of illegally copied goods and trade groups say violations are growing despite increased penalties and repeated crackdowns. The illicit trade is fueling tensions with Washington, which has filed a World Trade Organization case over Beijing’s failure to stamp it out.

In an annual report, the agency said authorities seized nearly 76 million pirated movies, software discs and other goods last year and shut down 13,170 piracy-oriented businesses.

Yi said courts convicted 4,322 people of product piracy, though he said he did not know what penalties they received.

Officials said they are making special efforts to prevent unlicensed use of Olympics-related logos and other property ahead of the Beijing Summer Games in August.

Yes, it may be the largest source of the world’s IP violations–copyright, trademark, and probably even patent too–but we’re talking about numbers here. China has over 1 billion people. Let’s multiply the rampant amount of Kazaa and Torrent downloading the United States by over 3 times and see how much the numbers look as scary. Or think about other nations which are much smaller. I am sorry to say this, but IP violations are a fact of life in many cases. And to continue to say that China isn’t trying can only be frustrating to the Chinese government and borders on being a falsehood. Sure, the government could always do more. But it’s doing something. 76 million discs and 4,000+ convictions is nothing to sneeze at. Especially where the West has accused China of being a lawless society–well, you try to convict 4,000+ people of IP law violations in a lawless society and see how you do.

So who is fueling a lot of this? Let’s continue with the article:

Chinese markets are awash in illegally copied goods ranging from software and Hollywood movies to designer clothes, sports equipment and medications. Industry groups say Chinese and foreign companies lose tens of billions of dollars a year in potential sales to piracy.

Washington filed a WTO complaint in April 2007 accusing Beijing of violating its trade commitments by failing to stop product piracy.

Film studios have won lawsuits against pirate DVD vendors and have begun filing cases against Web sites accused of allowing downloads of unlicensed movies.

But some 93 percent of DVDs sold in China are unlicensed, according to the Motion Picture Association, which represents Hollywood studios. Many are sold openly on sidewalks in Beijing and other major cities.

In a report last year, the Business Software Alliance said 82 percent of software used in China is pirated, thought it said that rate was down from more than 90 percent in earlier years.

So we have the MPAA and the BSA involved. These are clearly special interest groups. And trust me, they are good at embellishing the truth with alleged facts and figures. The BSA claims that software publishers have lost billions and billions of dollars due to software piracy worldwide. Really? I don’t think so. Because if people couldn’t pirate your product, they wouldn’t buy it at all. It’s too expensive for most people outside of certain industrialized nations. In fact, I am willing to believe that software companies in places like China benefit because they have a virtual monopoly through piracy. And in the end, businesses will begin to pay for the software as the US retains its role as a sock puppet for the BSA.

The MPAA too. Only the MPAA would have the audacity to sue ordinary citizens for downloading movies. Well, they did. Yes, it got the message across. Did it stop the decline in movie attendance? No. You have DVDs to thank for that. (which people actually purchase… and many times, people purchase after seeing a pirated version and they like the movie enough to own it)

I am not anti-IP law. I am anti-MPAA and anti-BSA though. These are 2 organizations that I wish would just go away.

Software piracy has dropped by about ten percent in recent years. 10 percent… in a nation of 1 billion plus people? That’s amazing. And especially with the Chinese view of the law (China Law Blog did a beautiful post on this comparing the Chinese v. American view of the law), that is really amazing. Let’s give credit where it is due: the Chinese government is doing an excellent job in starting to enforce IPRs. Yes, there is always much more to do. But we are talking about stemming a flood. (or drinking from a fire hydrant) It will take a LONG time before IP is as highly regarded as it is in America. (though we in America actually despite IP wonks) But for now, can we just applaud the government’s efforts?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS