It's Not China's Poor Copyright Laws That Fuel Piracy There
from the untapped-demand dept
In one of its roles as proxy for Hollywood movie studios and record labels, the US government continually complains to China that it's not doing enough to stop piracy, and threatens it with the big stick of sanctions or other actions through the World Trade Organization. While these threats are usually just hot air, the US has now formally complained to the WTO, saying that Chinese laws don't live up to WTO commitments in the area of copyright protection and enforcement. But there's a second element to the complaint, which takes issue with China's heavy restrictions on the distribution of foreign content, including DVDs, CDs, books and other products. Where things get a little bit more interesting is that the original article in the Wall Street Journal, and indeed, movie studios and record labels themselves, gloss over the second part of the complaint -- when it illustrates beautifully how backwards big content thinks.A graph in the article says that China and France are the two nations where the movie industry suffers its biggest losses due to piracy. While the dollar amounts cited are pretty certainly bogus, is it any coincidence that the movie industry sees those two countries as the biggest for piracy when they both feature some of the tightest restrictions on the distribution of foreign content? France is pretty famous for its efforts to keep American content out of its media market, while the Chinese government allows just 20 foreign films to be shown in the country's cinemas each year. It would be reasonable to deduce that it's a lack of legitimately available, attractive products that's driving the demand for pirated goods in these countries, rather than weak enforcement of copyrights. This mimics what goes on in other markets: the content industry fails to provide consumers with attractive products to purchase -- though it's generally because of poor strategy rather than government interference -- so they turn to pirated goods instead. The market for legitimate movie downloads probably provides the best illustration of this scenario. The products offered by legitimate, studio-backed sites are so heavily restricted and overpriced that nobody wants to buy them. The idea that content providers like movie studios don't understand this is reflected in the fact that they aren't pushing the government to attack China's 20-film limit, they just want to make its copyright laws more strict. It's just another indication of how the industry won't compete with free, while it protests that it simply can't. The failure in the market isn't a failure of the government to sufficiently protect copyright holders; it's a failure of those copyright holders to provide products and services that are attractive to consumers. Update: The WSJ updated the article, and changed the graph to show another set of questionable MPAA data. The original graph can be seen here.
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A contradiction.
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Re: A contradiction.
In a way consumers are already voting with their wallets. ;)
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Re: A contradiction.
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Re: A contradiction.
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THis is dumb
I do agree that the gov't may be keep the film industry down on these countries. Therefore making their citizens turn to bootlegs, but that still is not an vaild reason to steal.
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Re: THis is dumb
Thirdly, your callsign makes me picture you as a rotund African American man living in suburban Rhode Island next-door to a sex-addicted airline pilot and a family consisting of a drunk and a talking dog.
"That's naaasty..."
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Re: Re: THis is dumb
A sale was not made, whether they would have swiped the copy or not, therefore you have deprived them of due compensation, thus stealing.
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Re: Re: THis is dumb
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The real cause might be the high prices that the so called legal content arrives to stores' shelves...
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It's True
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Yeah
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Re: Yeah
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re: a contradiction
Most people don't realize that the ability to easily and rapidly reproduce ideas and art (eg books, articles, music, shows, movies, prints, photos) is heralding an explosion in interaction and creative development among ALL human beings - that's the whole of humanity, every one of us. Regardless of borders, bureaucrats or bombs.
The reason why the corporations can't compete is that almost everybody hates them, and most people can't afford what they demand. So as soon as the useful and creative things they've stolen from humanity slip through the prison bars they try and put around them, then they find their way home - to humanity.
The oligarchy (rule by the few) and plutocracy (power of the rich) that is fomenting war and destruction today wants to corner every market it can smell out in order to charge exorbitant prices for necessary products. This system wants everybody to act like ignorant selfish money-worshipping brutes like themselves. Fortunately for us (humanity) most people puke at this idea and do what they can to stay human and share their joys and thoughts with each other. You can't make lives and ideas into private property.
Artists and scientists etc need to live. Most people that make up society realize this better than the fat cats and their governments. So let society organize a fair way to do this without the insanity of present-day copyright and patent litigation.
If big stealing (say the looting of Iraq's oil, or the slave contracts big recording companies force on most musicians, or the destruction of our air and water) is sanctioned by law and government, while small stealing is stigmatized and smeared, then the system needs to be turned on its head.
Meanwhile people will do what they have to do to feel themselves as a real part of humanity, with access to the latest and greatest productions of their fellow human beings.
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The piracy in Taiwan is not nearly on the same level as China. I have been to both and seen this first hand. Don't get me wrong, I know there is plenty of piracy as I have seen it in Taipei, but it's on the same level or less as America.
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First Hand Account
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Bogus info
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Re: Bogus info
Uh, duh? I don't understand what epiphany was intended to be in that posting. All you have said is that the supply and demand is out of balance. Well, yes, same in the US. We demand entertainment, the MPAA demands obscene amounts of money, the consumers demand lower prices, the MPAA ignore the consumer, the consumer pirates the movie... It's the same thing, except in China the regulation on supply is the government, while the regulation of supply in the US is price and quality.
"I agree that enforcement of copyrights is not the issue but I disagree that the content providers are not providing popular content."
If the content was worth the money they would make the money. The problem with the products is that they are targeted at the mass audience to generate the greatest numbers of people who might be interested. Not the greatest number of people with serious interest. Now, look at who the large majority of the US is... they are mid to low class citizens who make under $40,000 a year. Starting to see why they probably don't buy large volumes of movies? Pile on top of the economic situation the fact that the content they are selling is geared to target a broad audience and not specifically any group, and you have the makings for poor sales. If no one feels they have to own the product for what your asking, they either won't own it, or they will copy it from a friend.
"I agree that enforcement of copyrights is not the issue but I disagree that the content providers are not providing popular content."
They regulate the content, but it is still out there. It's not like the media content is contraband or something.
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Inaccuracies
As for your comments about France, they are entirely baseless. As a five second glance at any theatre marquee will tell you, the majority of films in French theatres are American-made. I understand your liberal tendencies (I share them as well) and desire for cheap or free media content, but uneducated, under-researched, over-opinionated articles such as this one serve only to undermine our goals. Please do your homework before posting.
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A.
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The problem with this...
I realize China is undergoing change, with more potential than maybe any other country on the planet. But it is taking too long. I think the West ought to give them regular kicks in the ass to move the process along.
Of course the MPAA does not understand the big picture here. Let's hope someone else with real power does...If not, then elect someone who does get it.
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The post that became a rant- dont read it!
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Commerce
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France?????????????
And indeed France is not mentionned once in the aTFA, and doesn't even appear in the graph!
Russia and Thailand follow!
Do you even check your facts before you write an article before making bogus assumptions? Do yourself a favour and issue some sort of retraction.
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Re: France?????????????
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Re: Re: France?????????????
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What gets me...
I'm much more concerned that the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY has such a grip on the US government that it actually has a chance in hell of unfluencing relations with foreign nations. I believe that arts and entertainment are important to society but damn...
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Re: What gets me...
if i was a fat kid and i lived next door to a woman who baked and gave away pies, she would be my favorite person in the world. if anything happened to threaten my pie connection i would be very concerned and do whatever it took to make sure i kept getting pies. that too is very logical.
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Wut, lul
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Wut, lul
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INTERNET.
Yeah.
Brick & mortar piracy has been decreasing since personal downloading has become faster and easier. The U.S. loves to point fingers at China and South Korea for both forms of piracy, claiming that the Asian cultures are deficient in morals. But I don't think it's a cultural difference. China's internet system is backed by the government, and South Korea is so small that it's easy to provide high-speed internet to every household.
In America, we've still got a sizeable population of people who don't have internet access in their own home. Everyone can access the internet, but that means they can use the internet for an hour at a time at their high school or local library, not that they can download music and movies on T3 networks in the comfort of their own home. College/university students and people above a certain socio-economic level are the majority of high-speed internet users, and I think it's safe to say that a lot of these users download.
Wait until America catches up to China in terms of people's access to high-speed internet access. Let's see how high and mighty we are about noble Americans who respect copyright then.
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That's just mean.
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Re:
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Re: Re:
I once saw a pirated disk which had the warning replaced by one saying that if the FBI treid to arrest the burner of the disc, he would be knoked out and the police called to arest him for breaking and entering, harrasment, illegal detention, and any other crimes that would stick. The wrning tracks were region coded, though the est f teh disk was not, so each region had a differne twarning notice.
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Culture!
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Re: Culture!
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Re: Internet
Of course, there's also the cost of hard drive space to store all the downloaded data.
To the people who say that the right to the original doesn't mean the right to make a copy and if you can't afford, go without it, etc. etc.. So if I buy a wooden chair, I'm not allowed to build one exactly like it? Or six chairs exactly like it? That's copying. Technology has just made it easier for us to copy.
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