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China Slams US Piracy Complaint

Posted by Zonk on from the arr-break-out-the-cutlasses dept.

bingoathome writes with a link to a BBC article on China's criticism of the US over its complaint to the WTO. The Bush administration is breaking its long-standing policy of backroom conversations with Beijing to condemn the country's continued 'failure to address copyright piracy and counterfeiting.' "The US says that China's failure to enforce copyright laws is costing software, music and book publishers billions of dollars in lost sales ... The US has been threatening a WTO complaint against China since 2005. It said on Tuesday that the two cases had been submitted to the WTO. One case claims that Beijing's poor enforcement of copyright and trademark protections violates WTO rules. The other contends that illegal barriers to hamper sales of US films, music and books. "

14 of 346 comments (clear)

  1. dvd's cost a quarter in shanghai by Adult+film+producer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but how much do legal copies of dvd's sell for? Or rather, how much does the riaa/mpaa want to charge chinese consumers for a DVD ? $20? Maybe it's time for the riaa/mpaa to lower prices and compete with the blackmarket.. there is still money to be made, just don't expect chinese consumers to fork over 15% of their annual income for a lousy hollywood movie.

    1. Re:dvd's cost a quarter in shanghai by Ours · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't know about China but in the countries I've been in Asia, legal DVDs and computer games come real cheap compared to Europe. It's 1/4 of the price from what we pay in Europe. But that's hardly competing with the black market which has even lower prices. Still, I'd buy more DVDs and games if they where priced like the legal stuff in south-east Asia. But with the salaries these people have, they'll never pay more then black-market prices. Besides, why would they give a damn about US/European copyright owners? It's not like we've shown much in the way of caring for the working conditions they have to suffer to sell the stuff they make for us at super cheap prices.

      --
      "You superiour intellect is no match for our puny weapons" - The Simpsons
    2. Re:dvd's cost a quarter in shanghai by statusbar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      After the fiasco of the U.S.'s Canadian softwood lumber tax where the WTO ruled against the U.S. something like 5 times, I learned that the U.S. only follows WTO rulings when it suits them...

      --jeffk++

      --
      ipv6 is my vpn
    3. Re:dvd's cost a quarter in shanghai by Volante3192 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not to mention just recently the WTO ruled in favor of Antigua over online gaming.

      I'd love to see China come out and say, on the record, "The US has no history of agreeing to WTO decisions, why should we?"

    4. Re:dvd's cost a quarter in shanghai by darthnoodles · · Score: 4, Insightful

      you certainly can't paint them as in the wrong on this particular issue.

      Wrong? No.
      Hyprocrites? Yes.

    5. Re:dvd's cost a quarter in shanghai by dave420 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not just the WTO. The US uses these organisations when it suits them, then ignores their verdicts when brought against the US. That's one of the major reasons the world has a less-than-great view of the US - most other nations try their best to adhere to judgements and arbitration that find against them, regardless of how it will affect them. The understanding is you take the good with the bad, otherwise you just piss people off. The US seems to not give a shit, then acts all surprised when other countries get pissed off with them. Selfish foreign policy. It sounds like a rabid leftist mantra, but it's fucking accurate.

    6. Re:dvd's cost a quarter in shanghai by shaitand · · Score: 4, Insightful

      'The justice department will uphold the law on my behalf even if I've already shown my own disregard for the law as applies to me.'

      That's not entirely true. The law does not apply the same way to a convicted and incarcerated prisoner.

      'I don't know much about prior US dealings with the WTO, but I do believe laws should be upheld even on behalf of imperfect citizens.'

      We aren't talking about someone breaking a code of laws. We are talking about an international organization that exists to resolve disputes between its members. When a member thinks another is acting unfairly they can raise a dispute and all parties have agreed to abide by the decisions of the organization. A member gets the right to raise complaints in exchange for their agreement to abide by decisions. If a member raises complaints but never abides by unfavorable decisions then they really have no right to be a member or to raise issues.

      Take the other stance. You are Italy and the US raises an issue against you. Regardless of the merit of the issue you will lose. If the ruling is in your favor, the US will ignore it and possibly take justice in its own hands via sanctions or military action. If you ever have need to raise an issue against the US, the US will ignore any ruling against it. Why should the US be able to enjoy the benefits of favorable decisions if it ignores the consequences of unfavorable ones? Why should any of the other member nations recognize disputes from the US under those circumstances?

      I wouldn't.

  2. China might as well ignore WTO rulings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    just like the US does, if they don't like them:
    http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/02/10 35210

  3. WTO should say by jhines · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And you the US, are gonna do WHAT about the on-line gambling issue that didn't go your way?

  4. MOD Parent UP by Don_dumb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Exactly, this is another case of classic US unilateralism. The US government use the UN, WTO and other international groups to get their own way with the rest of the world but then ignore those same groups when the rest of the world has its own issues.

    I always remember when some US official was asked why the US didn't recognise the International court of Justice, he replied "because this would allow other nations to bring trials against OUR leaders". The US just doesn't get the idea of "international cooperation", you can't just use collaboration to get your own way without compromise. Perhaps it would help if the US realised that it isn't always right.

    --
    If this were really happening, what would you think?
    1. Re:MOD Parent UP by drgonzo59 · · Score: 4, Insightful
      It's alright. US is already behind as far as technological progess goes. Our school systems are crap, our students math and science scores rank near the bottom of the civilized nation's scores. We have been in a stupid war for the last 5 years or so, we have overspent our money, our president is a moron and we are so scared of terrorists that we threw away democracy and freedom and put babies on the no-fly lists. Call me pessimistic and alarmist, but I see this country going downhill. It was a great country, it reached it's peak and now it is on a long an steady decline.

      I think US will be in the position to bully others only for so long. Pretty soon we might have to be the ones taking orders...

  5. Not disagreeing with the basic premise by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But the world court thing is somewhat sticky because it gets in to constitutional issues. The Constitution is the highest law in the US, above even federal. It can only be changed by a 67% majority vote in congress, and then a vote from 75% of the states. Well, among other things, it guarantees citizens certain rights that the government can't take away (not that it doesn't stop them from trying from time to time). However if you say the world court has jurisdiction over US citizens, over the supreme court, then you are subjecting them to a court that doesn't recognise those rights. Not that they might not have a similar set, but the Constitution is pretty clear on this point.

    That's the real issue here, but it highlights a problem with things like a world court. It is hard to have something like a world government when the world can't agree on what kind of laws it should have. I'm going to guess China has a real different idea of what speech should be criminal than the US does. Thus it is kinda hard to have a single judicial system that both would be under.

  6. The US was a great nation by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With bold people pushing the frontiers. When "don't ask what your country can do for you" actually meant something, when it wasn't a blurb spinned by politicians, but actually heeded by them and even the industry, too. Great men and women who wanted to push the boundaries and make the nation (or humanity as a whole) better and more advanced.

    Today, the US is what the rest of the "civilized" world is: Fat and afraid. Fat and lazy, unable and unwilling to lift a finger and not caring about tomorrow, not caring what happens to the world around them as long as they can get rich without having to do anything for it. Inventive? At best in the "how to get rich by doing nothing" department.

    And afraid that this might change.

    Btw, don't feel left out if you're not from the US. That's pretty much true for most of Europe, too. When I look around myself, all I see is fat, lazy and very frightened people.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  7. Priorities by DCheesi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    US response to China's widespread human rights violations, sweatshop labor conditions, and suppression of dissent: *chirp* *chirp*

    US response to China's half-hearted enforcement of US Big Media copyrights: OMG! WTF?!! We must complain and protest most vigorously!!!111oneone!