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US Targeting China In New Anti-Piracy Drive

Posted by samzenpus on from the most-pirated-nation-status dept.

oxide7 writes "The United States will make China 'a significant focus' of its beefed-up efforts to fight global piracy and counterfeiting of US goods ranging from CDs to manufactured products, a US official said on Wednesday. The International Intellectual Property Alliance, which represents US copyright industry groups, has estimated lost sales in China at more than $3.5 billion in 2009 due to piracy of US music, movies and software."

10 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Give it a rest by gizmod · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ah give it a rest allready. Sheesh, when will the US learn that not everyone dances to their tune.

    1. Re:Give it a rest by tnok85 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think most people agree that the US does not produce the best dance music anymore, so I sort of think you're beating a dead horse.

    2. Re:Give it a rest by johnhp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The copyright laws in the US aren't "the tune" of the people. They're just another tool for the rich to extract profit from resources. Just like they drill exploratory oil wells in the search for oil, these attempts to enforce copyright in China are an attempt expand an old game to a new area.

      The level of copyright enforcement in China is probably directly related to how much the industry is willing to pay the enforcers. Share enough of the profits, and I bet China would be happy to send pirates away to a gulag.

      In the long run though, copyright is over. A few major industries will cease to exist in their current form during the next century. All digital content will be considered basically free in a sort of universal public library. What money there is to make will be made by showing movies in theaters, performing live music, and selling physical books to fans of the digital version. I think we'll see a real renaissance once the chains of industry are removed.

      China doesn't respect copyright even to the extent of westerners. Unfortunately for the US, that means they could be first to prosper from this revolution. It may be that in 50 years, Chinese villagers will educate themselves with the best books and movies for free, while we in the US are enslaved under the RIAA's latest hellish plot.

    3. Re:Give it a rest by dylan_- · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think most people agree that the US does not produce the best dance music anymore, so I sort of think you're beating a dead horse.

      Beating a dead horse will only give you a crisp beat for about 10 minutes or so; after that it starts to sound a bit "squishy". No wonder you don't produce the best dance music if you can't sort out your percussion.

      --
      Igor Presnyakov stole my hat
    4. Re:Give it a rest by Bert64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The legitimate producers could afford to price match or even undercut the copied works due to economies of scale...

      Faced with 2 identical products for the same price, people will always choose the more reputable source...

      But the fact is, dvdorderonline has a highly profitable business, because of the price fixing cartels in the west they are able to take unrealistically high margins on their products while still undercutting the competition and offering a superior product (no drm, no unskippable junk etc)... If faced with stiff competition, their margins would be razor thin like virtually every other line of business.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
  2. You seriously expect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    a US administration helped to power by media/entertainment groups to give a rest protecting their vested interests? Think again.

  3. I have estimated by Thanshin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've estimated the US government owes me 1.63 billion dollars in lost sales.

    Because of the existance of the US, I lost the chance of selling my ballpen for exactly 1.63 billion dollars.

    Yes, my claim is much closer to reality than theirs and no, I won't explain how exactly I'm entitled to money from sales I didn't do, either.

  4. Would be nice to see by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is the kind of piracy that we need to worry about because it isn't just a matter of copyright infringement, it is a matter of fraud. When you make a knockoff copy of something and sell it to someone as legit, you are defrauding them, and you really are causing economic loss to the company who legitimately makes the product. That is a good deal different from simply copying something without permission. It is something worth trying to shut down because it is a real crime with real victims.

    I'm all for spending resources on cracking down on crimes where there are victims. I'm not so interested in spending lots of resources on victimless crimes.

  5. WTF... by Bert64 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So the chinese have saved themselves $3.5 billion, good for them...
    If copyright was enforced then 99% of those chinese people would simply never have had any of this stuff at all. They would be using locally chinese produced media, or freely available media instead. Most of these people simply couldn't afford to pay what US media companies demand.

    It does show where the US governments priorities lie tho, they are willing to lean on the chinese over copyrights but couldn't care less about human rights or the environment.

    --
    http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    1. Re:WTF... by thijsh · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If recent history has shown anything about this subject it's that in most western nations human rights and the environment come second after corporate (copyright) interests. So that confirms your point, the political priorities lie exactly where the money is, and there is no money in human rights or the environment (except when you sell these things out).