IP Czar: Blame China! Congress: Do Something!
from the political-theater dept
In what looks like a big round of political theater, US IP Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel presented to a Congressional committee her plans for fighting copyright infringement overseas, and it seems to boil down to "blame China." Apparently, all of the elected officials were on board with that, and then asked what to do... to which Espinel provided the same answer that US officials have always given: put pressure on the Chinese to respect US intellectual property. How's that been working so far? Exactly. It's a plan for handwaving -- which, honestly, might really be the best thing. China really doesn't care what the US has to say about IP policy, and US lawmakers know this. They also know that the US needs China more than China needs the US right now. That's why suggestions made by some politicians -- such as Rep. Ted Poe about blocking visas for Chinese students and tourists -- was dismissed out of hand by others:Rep. Bill Delahunt... responded to Poe's argument that we should reduce the number of student visas for China by pointing out this would harm people in his state.The fact is that waving arms about China ignoring IP isn't going to do anything. It's all just a big political exercise, and it's pretty meaningless. The supposed "harm" has been seriously overblown by companies, and the ability to do something about it is miniscule. If we really wanted to "respond" to Chinese disrespect for US intellectual property, we should be helping companies (1) compete better and (2) adapt to use the situation to their advantage. Instead, we get political grandstanding that won't help anyone.
He said many of those would-be students from China attend schools in New England. Not only that, but the families of these students visit, which helps Massachusetts' business people.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: china, enforcement, ip, victoria espinel
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Student Visas
Speaking as a UK academic:
Please please please do this. We look forward to many more students from China if the US blocks them.
(They pay bigger fees than home students and we will be able to sidestep the government's public spending cuts if we recruit more of them.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Punish and penalize has been the principal tool of foreign affairs for the U.S. for decades, it surely showing results now. It worked wonders, just see how people are buying "Made in U.S.A." products all over the world now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
@1 UK digital economy says otherwise
China seems to be doing nice with canada and keeping its word on deals...somehting softwood lumber industry knows americans CAN'T be TRUSTED
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: @1 UK digital economy says otherwise
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: @1 UK digital economy says otherwise
I'm not sure Feargal Sharkey getting a peerage is any better though.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Awesome
The repressive communist regime of China slapping down the repressive desires of the entertainment industry.
I'm smiling.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Awesome
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
why not push china on something else?
“Maybe we should have forgotten intellectual property rights internationally,” says Bruce Lehman, U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property for President Clinton, in the recent documentary Rip! A Remix Manifesto, “and gone for labor standards and the environment.”
(i go the quote from here but the article is only slightly relevant)
you can hand wave and finger point all you want about ip law, but the fact of the matter is that not enough gets made in the US anymore. making stuff is how you solve the jobs problem, the economy problem... just about every problem, really.
sure you can "design by apple in california" but the real way to help the US compete is to push the rest of the world to adopt laws that bring them up to the same level as the US when it comes to manufacturing, like labor and environmental standards, and not intellectual property law, which honestly is an attempt to regulate something that simply cannot be regulated. that way overseas manufacturing competes with american manufacturing on a level playing field, and some of that manufacturing will come back to the US.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: why not push china on something else?
In doing so it tends to reduce economic activity and make everything more expensive and less competitive in world markets.
IP law is one of the reasons why US/European production can't compete with China.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: why not push china on something else?
i think this particular issue is more basic than the evils of ip laws. it's a question of the US being able to continue in the manner to which its people and government have become accustomed.
not making things domestically is a big deal for the sustainability of this country.
IP law is one of the reasons why US/European production can't compete with China.
again, this is a much larger issue than IP law. china didn't come in and steal our manufacturing sector, we paid them to take it off our hands.
we entered into an agreement that china isn't going to honor. and the problem won't remain confined to china. there is also brazil, india, and russia in the near future, and god know who else after that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Congress: Do Something!
IP Czar: I can't they have nukes, BFG's(i.e. Big Efe Guns), own our debt and have more economic pull than we do.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Skroob (to DH): Do something!
DH (to Sandurz): Do something!
Sandurz (to crew): Do something!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Blame China
foreign countries!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]